Link to The Israeli prime minister says he has instructed the IDF to increase its control of Gaza, a move that would further strain the US-backed ceasefire agreement reached with Hamas in October 2025The Israeli prime minister says he has instructed the IDF to increase its control of Gaza, a move that would further strain the US-backed ceasefire agreement reached with Hamas in October 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he directed the Israel Defense Forces to expand their control of Gaza to 70%, despite the terms of the ceasefire agreement reached with Hamas under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
Speaking at a conference on Thursday, Netanyahu said Israeli forces already controlled about 60% of the Gaza Strip, up from 50%. When someone in the audience called for Israel to take control of “100%”, the prime minister replied: “Let’s go step by step. First of all, 70. Let’s start with that.”
He added that Israel was “squeezing Hamas” and would continue to press the group “from all sides”.
The statement appears to run counter to the ceasefire terms agreed in October 2025, under which Israeli forces withdrew to a demarcation line known as the “yellow line”. At the time, the IDF was expected to hold about 53% of the territory, with further phases of the deal intended to lead to Hamas’s disarmament and an Israeli military withdrawal.
Those next steps have not materialised. Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, mediated by the United States, remain stalled, while both sides continue to accuse each other of obstructing the implementation of the agreement.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said in recent months that Israeli forces now control more than 60% of Gaza. His latest comments suggest a further expansion of Israel’s military footprint, at a time when the ceasefire is already under severe pressure.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations, at least 738 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire came into effect in October.
Israeli strikes have continued this week. Local hospitals said at least 10 people, including five children, were killed in an Israeli strike on a building in Gaza City late on Wednesday. The Israeli military said it had targeted “two central Hamas terrorists” in northern Gaza but did not identify them.
The apparent target was Hamas battalion commander Imad Asleem, who was killed along with his teenage daughter Israa. A day earlier, Israel killed Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed head of Hamas’s military wing, in a strike that also killed his wife and two sons. Another woman was also reportedly killed.
The Israeli military said it had also carried out a strike on a car in Khan Younis on Tuesday, killing Ihab Khrizim, described as the head of a Hamas funds transfer network, and Mohammed al-Habash, a commander involved in weapons production.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Israel had pledged to eliminate those responsible for the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.
“We pledged that Hamas will not rule Gaza civilly or militarily,” Katz wrote on X.
He also said Israel would implement what he called a “plan for voluntary emigration from Gaza” at the appropriate time. Similar language has been used by far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who have publicly supported the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza and the resettlement of the territory by Jews. Rights groups and legal experts have warned that forced displacement of civilians could amount to a war crime.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after the October 2023 Hamas-led attack. Since then, much of the territory has been reduced to ruins and large parts of Gaza’s 2.1 million population have been displaced.
As of May 12, 2026, Gaza’s health ministry said 72,742 Palestinians had been killed and 172,565 injured since the start of the war. Among those killed, at least 21,283 were children.
Netanyahu’s latest directive is likely to deepen doubts over the future of the ceasefire. With negotiations frozen, strikes continuing and Israel signalling a wider military presence, the gap between the peace plan on paper and the reality on the ground appears to be widening.
(Associated Medias) - all rights reserved(Associated Medias) - All rights reserved