Friday, May 29, 2026 –
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Thursday that he has directed the Israeli Defence Forces to expand their control of the Gaza Strip to 70 percent of the territory, in remarks that sent shockwaves through diplomatic channels and deepened the humanitarian catastrophe facing Gaza’s more than two million residents.
“We are now in 60 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said at a conference in the occupied West Bank. “My directive is to move to — take it step by step — first of all 70. Let’s start with that.” When audience members called out for full Israeli control over the entire enclave, he responded, “We’re going in order. First 70 percent.” He did not rule out a full takeover.
The declaration is a significant escalation beyond the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas in October 2025. Under that deal, Israeli forces were supposed to remain behind a demarcation known as the “yellow line,” leaving them in roughly 53 percent of the territory. Israel has already expanded about 11 percent beyond that line, with IDF maps provided to aid organisations in mid-March showing control at approximately 64 percent. The new directive would push the military line of control still further into the shattered enclave.
The day before Netanyahu’s remarks, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had reiterated the government’s intention to pursue a plan for what he called “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza — a scheme widely condemned by the United Nations and human rights organisations as forced displacement. The UN has already added Israel to its blacklist for sexual violence in conflict zones.
On Thursday itself, an Israeli air raid killed at least ten people including four children and wounded twenty others, adding to a near-daily pattern of strikes that Al Jazeera’s tracking tallied at at least 2,400 ceasefire violations between October 2025 and April 2026. Healthcare in Gaza has largely collapsed, food access is critically restricted, and the UN has warned the humanitarian situation could deteriorate further.
A further seizure of Gaza would compress the territory available to Palestinians to a fraction of the coastal enclave, forcing millions into ever-shrinking zones amid rubble and aid bottlenecks. Hamas has refused to disarm its weaponry — a key condition of the ceasefire plan — meaning the preconditions for Israeli withdrawal have not been met, providing the government’s legal justification for the continued expansion. International calls for restraint, from France, Germany, the UN Security Council, and the Arab League, have been met with silence from Tel Aviv.
