Benjamin Netanyahu Orders Israel Defense Forces To Expand Gaza Control To 70%

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he had directed the Israel Defense Forces to increase control of Gaza to 70%, after he said Israel was already squeezing Hamas and “we now control 60% of the territory of the Strip.”

“The German government has expressed concern over Israeli plans to extend its military control of Gaza”

Al Jazeera

The BBC reported Netanyahu’s remarks at a conference on Thursday, where he said “Let’s go step by step. First of all, 70. Let’s start with that,” while Israel continues strikes on Gaza despite the ceasefire.

Al Jazeera

The South China Morning Post said Israel effectively controls an estimated 64 per cent of the tiny coastal strip, and that under an October US-brokered truce Israeli troops were meant to withdraw to a “Yellow Line” demarcating the extent of their control.

It added that Marked on military maps, that line put Israel in control of some 53 per cent of Gaza, with Hamas ruling the rest, and that Reuters has reported Israel has unilaterally moved the concrete blocks marking the Yellow Line on the ground deeper into Hamas-controlled territory.

The BBC tied the shift to the ceasefire terms, saying the expansion would contradict the terms of the Donald Trump-led ceasefire Israel and Hamas agreed to in October 2025, while the Hamas-run health ministry said at least 738 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire came into effect in October.

Hamas said on Friday that Netanyahu’s declaration that Israel would expand its area of control in Gaza is a dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of the truce, after the ceasefire agreement in October stated the Israeli military would remain in control of 53% of Gaza.

The Arab Weekly quoted Ismail al-Thawabta, head of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, saying “Any attempt to impose a new reality of occupation in Gaza is null and illegitimate,” and it described Netanyahu’s comments as a plan for ethnic cleansing and forced displacement.

Al-Jazeera Net

In the same framing, the BBC reported Netanyahu’s statement came as Israel continues strikes on Gaza despite the ceasefire and as Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked in indirect, US-brokered talks to advance Trump’s peace plan.

The Arab Weekly also reported that Israel has already expanded its area of control in Gaza from the 53% lying behind a “yellow line” mapped into the ceasefire deal up to around 64%, and that any further reduction of space available to the more than 2 million Gaza residents risks worsening dire conditions.

It added that a British foreign ministry spokesperson said any further expansion of Israeli control in Gaza would be unacceptable and risk exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation, while a spokesperson for the Board of Peace said it would not have a comment on Netanyahu’s statement.

The BBC said the Hamas-run health ministry figures, which the UN considers reliable, put at least 738 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire came into effect in October, and it described Netanyahu’s expansion as contradicting the ceasefire’s “yellow line” demarcation.

“Netanyahu Directs Israeli Forces to Expand Gaza Control to 70 Percent Error: Contact form not found”

Algemeiner

The Latin Times reported that Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, warned that an Israeli expansion to 70% of Gaza would leave the territory’s 2.2 million residents confined to less than a third of its original area, calling it “the single most overcrowded place on the face of the planet.”

It also said Defense Minister Israel Katz told The Guardian on May 27 that the government’s ultimate goal included encouraging large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza through what he described as a “voluntary migration” plan, and it quoted him: “We committed that Hamas will not rule Gaza civilly or militarily.”

The Arab Weekly described the political and diplomatic backdrop, saying the ceasefire deal in October created a Board of Peace to oversee a phased ceasefire that was ratified by the United Nations Security Council, while thorny issues including disarmament of Hamas, full Israeli withdrawal, and the make-up of a Gaza government were postponed to later stages.

It warned that continued Israeli attacks and little aid reaching civilians keep the conflict unresolved, and it quoted Mohammed al-Jundi, a displaced man in Gaza City, asking “For how long will the world stay silent?” as Israeli forces advance beyond the “yellow line.”