Netanyahu Orders Israeli Army To Expand Control Over Gaza Beyond The Yellow Line

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on a television program aired on May 28 that Tel Aviv is "currently controlling about 60% of the Gaza Strip" and ordered the Israeli army to raise that control to 70%.

“These images show that Israel is building permanent military bases in Gaza while the U”

Agence Media Palestine

Under the "Yellow Line" delimiting the territory controlled in the Gaza Strip as defined in the ceasefire agreement negotiated by the United States in October 2025, Israel controlled about 53% of Gaza, with the rest controlled by the Hamas armed movement.

Agence Media Palestine

By mid-March 2026, Israel had provided humanitarian organizations with a map showing it had extended its control over Gaza by an additional 11% beyond the initial border, and Reuters reported Israeli forces had moved concrete blocks marking the "Yellow Line" deeper into territory controlled by Hamas.

The expansion of Israel's territorial control would force more than 2 million Palestinians, already living in extremely difficult conditions, to move even deeper into overcrowded coastal settlements.

A United States-brokered ceasefire had eased ground fighting between Israel and Hamas, with the agreement allowing both sides to exchange hostages and prisoners, deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, and partially withdraw Israeli forces from certain areas.

Le Monde, as cited by شبكة رؤية الإخبارية, said Netanyahu's government is taking advantage of a "formal ceasefire" to entrench a new reality inside Gaza after about eight months of a ceasefire agreement facing daily violations.

The same report said Israel continues to carry out daily strikes against Hamas leaders, with each assassination framed as a 'strategic victory,' after the killing of Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the commander of the Qassam Brigades.

Al-Jazeera Net

Israel later announced the assassination of his successor, Mohammad Aweida, and targeting other leaders north of the Strip, while Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said that Israel "will continue to pursue anyone who participated in the October 7 attacks."

The report also said airstrikes continue at a steady pace, with around four killed daily since the Gaza ceasefire began, compared with about ninety killed daily before the ceasefire.

Nikolai Miladinov, the senior representative of the Peace Council established by Donald Trump, warned that the current situation could lead to a 'permanent division' inside Gaza and said the 'yellow line is likely to become a wall or a permanent fence,'.

Satellite images analyzed by Al-Jazeera's Open Source Unit showed that seven months after the ceasefire agreement took effect, Israeli military presence inside the Gaza Strip had not receded as the agreement stated but had expanded, with 40 Israeli military points detected and eight sites established after the ceasefire.

“Seven months after the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip took effect, satellite images show that the Israeli military presence inside the Gaza Strip has not receded as the agreement stated, but has seen a notable expansion in several areas”

Al-Jazeera Net

The analysis said the images show earth berms, internal roads, areas for vehicle deployment, and fortifications at some points, indicating a more organized and sustainable pattern of military deployment rather than only guard posts.

In Beit Lahiya, satellite images showed engineering works beginning by November 18, 2025 and the completed outer structure of a new military site by May 18, 2026, while in Khan Younis the images showed a site built on the ruins of the eastern cemetery.

Agence Media Palestine reported that while debris removal had virtually stopped in Beit Hanoun in the north and in Rafah, Israeli forces were systematically working to anchor a permanent military reality throughout the devastated enclave.

It also said Gaza's Health Ministry reported 750 dead and more than 2,090 injured since the start of the ceasefire, bringing the total death toll since the start of the genocidal war waged by Israel in October 2023 to more than 72,300.