Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday (local time) said that he has ordered the country's military to take over 70 per cent of Gaza's territory.
He made these remarks during an interview at a conference in the occupied West Bank, adding that Tel Aviv is "tightening" its grip on Hamas, CNN reported.
Israel expands grip on Gaza Strip
Netanyahu said, "We are now in 60% of the territory of the Gaza Strip. We were at 50%; we moved to 60%,” and added, “My directive is to move to — take it step by step — first of all, 70. Let’s start with that.” As Netanyahu spoke, the audience called for him to take over all of Gaza’s territory.
Additionally, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in April, issued maps to international aid groups which showed that the military is already controlling roughly 64 per cent of Gaza.
The seizure of more of Gaza would force approximately 2 million Palestinians into a shrinking fraction of the coastal enclave’s shattered territory, the report stated.
Earlier, on May 15, Netanyahu announced that the Israeli army had expanded its grip on the Gaza Strip. He said at the time, "There were those who said: get out, get out. We did not get out. Today we control... how much? 60 per cent. Tomorrow we shall see."
Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement
Under the October 2025 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces withdrew to a demarcation line known as the “yellow line,” which encompassed roughly 53 per cent of Gaza.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hamas accused Tel Aviv of moving the "yellow line" and said that this "constitutes an explicit and ongoing undermining of the ceasefire agreement, a serious violation of its provisions, and an exposed attempt to impose new facts on the ground by force, with the aim of entrenching military control over the Strip and undermining any real chance of stabilizing the situation or making de-escalation efforts succeed.”
During the first phase of the truce, the remaining hostages taken in Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza, were released in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.
The transition to the second phase of the truce, which was supposed to include Hamas's disarmament and a subsequent withdrawal of the Israeli army, has been delayed for months, AFP reported.
Gaza marred by daily violence
Despite a truce being in place, Gaza continues to be marred by daily violence, with both the Israeli military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce that has been in effect since 10 October last year.
So far, Tel Aviv has killed over 900 people since the start of 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 on Wednesday that 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. Odeh is the fourth head of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, whom Israel says it has killed since the start of the Gaza war.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz repeated Israel's goal of ending Hamas's rule over the Palestinian territory and alluded to a plan for the forced displacement of its residents.
