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Netanyahu seeks 70% control
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he directed the Israel Defense Forces to increase control of Gaza to 70%, after he told a conference that Israel was squeezing Hamas and that it “now control 60% of the territory of the Strip.”
“Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, said on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to expand Israeli control in the Gaza Strip constitutes a dangerous escalation, amid growing fears and concerns among Palestinians about the implications of this announcement”
The BBC reported that Netanyahu’s remarks came as Israel continued strikes on Gaza despite the ceasefire and as Israel and Hamas remained deadlocked in indirect, US-brokered talks to advance Donald Trump’s peace plan.
The BBC also said the expansion would contradict the terms of the Donald Trump-led ceasefire Israel and Hamas agreed to in October 2025, under which Israel was to maintain control over 53% of Gaza.
TRT World said Netanyahu acknowledged that Israel currently occupies 60 percent of Gaza and signalled plans to expand it further to 70 percent, “in defiance of the terms of a fragile ceasefire that took effect in October.”
Hamas calls it escalation
Hamas condemned Netanyahu’s plan to expand Israeli control in Gaza as a dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of the ceasefire, framing it as a move toward ethnic cleansing and forcible displacement.
صحيفة الخليج quoted Hamas as saying Netanyahu’s announcement represents a “dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of the ceasefire,” while Al-Jazeera Net described Hamas’s position that Netanyahu’s plan “constitutes a dangerous escalation.”
صحيفة الخليج said the ceasefire agreement reached in October stipulated that the Israeli army would remain in control of 53% of Gaza, but Netanyahu announced today that Israel would expand that area to 70% provisionally, without detailing any specifics or a timeline.
The same source added that any further reduction of the area available to more than two million Gazans threatens to worsen the already dire conditions, as they mostly live in crowded tents in a restricted area.
Humanitarian and political stakes
The BBC said at least 738 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire came into effect in October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry whose figures the UN considers reliable, and it added that as of 12 May 2026, 72,742 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 172,565 injured.
“Netanyahu says he has directed IDF to increase control of Gaza to 70% Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that he directed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to increase control of Gaza to 70%”
The Guardian warned that Netanyahu’s order to seize ‘70% of Gaza Strip’ would threaten to torpedo a fragile ceasefire and create “catastrophic humanitarian conditions,” citing the October withdrawal to a demarcation line that gave Israel direct control of 53%.
The Guardian also quoted Muhammad Shehada saying, “Netanyahu is now declaring the whole Trump deal, the framework for Gaza, to be null and void,” and it reported that Shehada described the conditions as “already appalling” and “the single most overcrowded place on the face of the planet.”
In Israel, the BBC said Netanyahu’s remarks came amid political pressure and deadlock in talks, while TRT World and Anadolu reported Netanyahu’s stated move from 60% toward 70% without elaborating on how such plans would be implemented.
