Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the army to occupy 70 percent of the besieged Gaza strip, remarks aired by Israeli media showed Thursday.
“At this point, we are fully in control of 60 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip … and my directive is to get to … 70 percent,” Netanyahu said in footage recorded by Channel 12. When an audience member called for Israel to take over the entire enclave, Netanyahu told them “we are going in order,” according to The Times of Israel. “First 70 percent,” he said, without ruling out a full takeover. “We’ll start with that”.
In mid-March, the Israeli army had sent maps to aid organisations showing it had already pushed beyond the so-called “Yellow Line” a boundary agreed under a US-brokered ceasefire in October 2025 – bringing its occupation to around 64 percent of the territory, up from 53 percent.
Palestinians are currently cut off from roughly two-thirds of Gaza due to the Israeli military’s presence. A further expansion would push the roughly two million people living there into an even smaller area.
Despite the ceasefire reached last year, deadly Israeli strikes have continued. An Al Jazeera count from October to April recorded at least 2,400 Israeli violations of the truce. On Thursday, health authorities said that an Israeli air raid killed at least 10 people, among them four children, and wounded 20 others.
The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that in its latest report that conditions for civilians in Gaza remain dire, with displaced families packed into tents, schools and damaged buildings. Clean water is scarce, waste collection has broken down and air strikes, shelling and shootings continue in or near residential areas across the enclave.
Last week, Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative overseeing the US-founded Board of Peace for Gaza, warned the UN Security Council that the situation risked becoming “permanent”.
He urged the council to use “every means at its disposal” to press Hamas to disarm and push Israel to honour its commitments under the October ceasefire.
The genocide Israel launched after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel has killed more than 72,775 Palestinians. Conflict monitors have noted that Israeli bombardment of Gaza has accelerated since the US-Israel war on Iran began in February.
