Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the Israeli military to seize 70 per cent of the Gaza Strip in a move threatening the fragile ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Speaking at a conference on Thursday, the prime minister said Israel was “squeezing” Hamas, having taken control of more than 60 per cent of the Palestinian enclave.
“We were at 50. We moved to 60. my directive is to move to...” he began, before someone in the crowd said, “100”.
“Let’s go step by step,” Netanyahu continued. “First of all 70. Let’s start with that. we’re pressing them from all sides. We’ll deal with the remnants.”
Israel effectively controls an estimated 64% of the tiny coastal Strip, bombarded to ruins by Israel's two-year military assault that followed the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Under a truce agreement brokered by the US in October, 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 per cent of Gaza. The expansion would contradict the terms set out in the agreement.
Since the ceasefire came into effect, Israel has unilaterally moved the concrete blocks marking the Yellow Line on the ground deeper into Hamas-controlled territory, according to Reuters. Maps issued by the military in March showed a restricted area that analysts say cordons off around 64 per cent of the Gaza Strip.
The next steps in the peace plan would see Hamas disarm and Israeli troops withdraw, but indirect talks have stalled.
The ceasefire has failed to halt Israeli attacks or secure Hamas’ disarmament. Israeli strikes have killed more than 900 people since the truce, health officials say, while Israel says four soldiers were killed by militants during the same period.
Palestinians view Israel's widening Gaza buffer zone as a part of a strategy to permanently displace them, pointing to remarks from senior ministers, including defense chief Israel Katz, saying they want to encourage “voluntary migration” from Gaza.
Netanyahu describes the territory Israel has seized in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon as “buffer zones” that can stave off potential militant attacks following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led assault that set off the Gaza war.
The new directive comes as Israel escalates its attacks in Gaza that it says target senior Hamas leaders who were involved in the 2023 attacks. On Tuesday, Israel killed Hamas' armed wing chief, ten days after killing his predecessor.
Gaza health officials say an additional strike on Wednesday night that Israel said targeted two Hamas leaders had killed at least 10 people, including five children, and wounded 18 others.
That strike came as Palestinians were marking the Muslim holiday festival of Eid al-Adha, which many in Gaza celebrated by gathering together in tent encampments and in bombed-out buildings.
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