Netanyahu: I ordered Israeli forces to expand Gaza control to 70 percent
Speaking at a conference in the Jordan Valley, the Israeli prime minister said the IDF is 'pressing Hamas from all sides'
Haaretz
75
3 min read
0 views
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he had directed Israel's military to take more of Gaza, initially by seizing 70 percent of the Palestinian territory, where the population is already penned into a tiny strip of land along the coast.
Israel effectively controls an estimated 64 percent of the tiny coastal Strip, bombarded to ruins by Israel's two-year military assault that followed the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Under an October U.S.-brokered truce that has failed to halt Israeli attacks or secure Hamas' disarmament, Israeli troops were meant to withdraw to a Yellow Line demarcating the extent of their control. Marked on military maps, that line put Israel in control of some 53 percent of Gaza, with Hamas ruling the rest.
Reuters has reported that Israel has unilaterally moved the concrete blocks marking the Yellow Line on the ground deeper into Hamas-controlled territory. Maps issued by the military in March showed an even bigger restricted area that analysts say cordons off around 64 percent of Gaza's territory in total.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said in public remarks that the military controls more than 60 percent of Gaza. Speaking to a conference in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli leader said even more of Gaza would be taken.
"We were at fifty, we moved to sixty. My directive is to move to - let's go step by step," Netanyahu said on Thursday.
"First of all, seventy. Let's start with that. We're pressing them (Hamas) from all sides. We'll deal with the remnants."
In the News
Netanyahu: I Ordered Israeli Forces to Expand Gaza Control to 70 Percent
By Legitimizing Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu Makes Kahane's Heir the Real Israeli Real PM
Israel Owes Obama an Apology
Channel 12 Poll: Netanyahu Coalition Wins 51 Seats, Eisenkot Party Rises to 17
Israel's Wars of Deception: Escalation Masquerading as Strategy
Remembering and rebuilding two years later
ICYMI
'Israelis Are More Genocidal Than You Think': The 'Counter Hasbara' of Andrey X
Freed Gaza Flotilla Activists Report Sexual Abuse, Rape in Israeli Custody
Former Israeli Soldier Dies by Suicide in Miami at Age 23
Netanyahu's Promises of Victory in Iran End in a Glorious U.S. Capitulation
Will Trump Forgive Netanyahu Over Iran? The Emerging Deal Suggests Not
