Netanyahu orders Israeli army to occupy "70% of Gaza Strip"

2026-05-28 20:46:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has ordered the Israeli military to take control of 70% of the Gaza Strip, in a move that threatens to destroy an already fragile ceasefire and create catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the already devastated territory.

Under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in October, the Israeli military withdrew to a demarcation line that gave Israel direct control of 53% of the occupied territory. Since then, Israeli forces have steadily advanced their positions westward into the Hamas-controlled half of the Gaza Strip, and have declared a no-man’s land to its west, within which they claim the right to decide who can enter and to open fire on anyone perceived as a threat.

In recent days, armed militias backed by Israel have taken a leading role in emptying the territory along the ceasefire line, telling residents to vacate their homes or shelters.

During the eight months of the ceasefire, Israeli forces have continued to open fire on Palestinians within the "yellow line" dividing the Gaza Strip and to carry out airstrikes deeper inside western Gaza, killing more than 900 Palestinians since the ceasefire began.

Speaking at a conference in an occupied West Bank settlement, Netanyahu, who is fighting for his political survival ahead of elections in the coming months, explained the scale of Israel's territorial ambitions.

The Israeli prime minister said: “We are currently squeezing Hamas. We now control 60% of the territory in the Strip. You know, we were at 50%, we went to 60. My directive is to go to… 70%.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the government's ultimate goal was for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza through what he called "voluntary migration," but what human rights activists describe as a long-term plan for ethnic cleansing by making living conditions inside Gaza intolerable.

Expanding Israeli military control would be a direct violation of the October ceasefire, the UN Security Council resolution that endorsed it, and Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan, which set out a temporary "yellow line" dividing Gaza into Israeli- and Hamas-run halves, pending further peace negotiations.

Trump's plan also said: "No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza."

Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said: “Netanyahu is now declaring the entire Trump deal, the framework for Gaza, null and void. That’s what he means in a nutshell. There’s no other way to put it.”

Israeli forces have systematically demolished the remaining buildings in their area, so its expansion to 70% of Gaza would mean that the 2.2 million Palestinians who survived the war would be squeezed into less than a third of their original territory, which was already overpopulated.

“The conditions there are already terrible. It’s the most overcrowded place on the face of the planet,” Shehada said. “Every square meter has another displaced family, another makeshift tent or some kind of makeshift shelter. So it would be a death sentence for many people who physically have nowhere to go.”

An Israeli military spokesman referred a request for comment on Netanyahu's 70% threat to the "political echelon."

Israeli forces have been steadily expanding their zone of control during the ceasefire. A UN briefing on Sunday for the heads of humanitarian agencies working in Gaza recorded some of the latest violations.

In the northern district of Jabalia, for example, the UN presentation, which was seen by the Guardian, said: “Tank advances were reported daily – drones targeting any movement near the yellow line.”

Israeli tanks were also reported advancing east of the southern city of Khan Younis.

The UN briefing refers to an Israeli-backed anti-Hamas militia led by a Gaza war commander, Ashraf al-Mansi, which it said had advanced westward from the yellow line around Jabalia last week.