During an interview at a conference held in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu said Israel was further “tightening the noose” around Hamas.
“Right now we control 60 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip. We were at 50 percent, now we have reached 60,” Netanyahu said.
“My directive is to go further – step by step – first of all to 70 percent. Let’s start from there,” added the Israeli prime minister.
As he spoke, a section of the audience called for Israel to take control of all of Gaza.
At the end of April, the IDF provided international humanitarian organizations with maps that showed that the Israeli army already controls approximately 64 percent of the territory of Gaza.
Taking over additional parts of Gaza could force some two million Palestinians into an ever-shrinking part of the devastated coastal enclave.
Under the October 2025 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces withdrew to the demarcation line known as the “yellow line”, which encompassed about 53 percent of Gaza’s territory.
On Tuesday, Hamas accused Israel of moving the line, saying it constituted “an open and continuous undermining of the ceasefire agreement, a serious violation of its provisions and an attempt to impose new facts on the ground by force.”
Hamas said that the aim of such moves is to consolidate military control over Gaza and prevent any real stabilization of the situation or the success of efforts to calm the conflict.
(Vijesti.ba)
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