In a fresh escalation that tests the limits of a fragile October ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has instructed the military to expand its control to 70% of Gaza.
“We are currently squeezing Hamas. We now control 60% of the territory in the strip,” he said at a conference in an occupied West Bank settlement, according to a video aired by Israel’s Channel 12 network.
Netanyahu said Israeli forces held 50% of Gaza under the ceasefire’s terms, before adding: “My directive is to move to… 70%”.
“We’re squeezing them from all (sides). We’ll deal with what’s left afterwards.”
The first phase of the truce culminated in the release of the last hostages seized in Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel — the assault that ignited the war — in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.
But the handover to a second phase has remained stuck for months, despite plans that it would include Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual pullback by the Israeli army.
The ceasefire framework also called for Israeli forces to withdraw behind a so-called “yellow line”, marking the boundary between areas under Hamas control and those held by the Israeli military.
Netanyahu first signalled an expanded campaign on 15 May, saying Israel had widened its grip inside Gaza.
“There were those who said: get out, get out. We did not get out. Today we control… how much? 60%. Tomorrow we shall see,” he said at the time.
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Even with the truce formally in place since 10 October, Gaza has continued to see daily violence, with the Israeli military and Hamas trading accusations of ceasefire breaches.
More than 900 people have been killed since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
Israel said yesterday it had killed the new head of Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, Mohammed Odeh, after killing his predecessor earlier this month.
Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack, Israel has systematically targeted the group’s leaders, both in Gaza and across the region.
Mr Odeh is the fourth head of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades that Israel says it has killed since the start of the Gaza war.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz yesterday reiterated Israel’s stated aim of ending Hamas’s rule over the Palestinian territory, and referred to a plan involving the forced displacement of residents.
“The plan for voluntary migration from Gaza will also be implemented – everything will be done at the right time and in the right way,” he said.
