Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the military to expand its control over the Gaza Strip, ordering the army to seize 70 percent of the Palestinian territory. Speaking in a West Bank settlement, Netanyahu stated that Israel is currently tightening the grip on Hamas.
This order comes in defiance of a fragile US-brokered ceasefire, which limited Israeli control to a demarcation line covering 53 percent of the territory. While the agreement established a Yellow Line, the Israeli army has already expanded its control beyond those terms, with current estimates placing Israeli control between 60 and 64 percent of the enclave.
The expansion threatens to torpedo the ceasefire and create catastrophic humanitarian conditions. The population is already penned into a tiny strip of land along the coast in a territory bombarded to ruins by a two-year military assault. Israeli forces have steadily advanced westward, declaring an expanded no man’s land within which they claim the right to decide who enters and open fire on anyone perceived as a threat.
Netanyahu, who is fighting for political survival before elections, faces pressure from supporters who view the war as unfinished business and call for more intensive airstrikes. As the military continues to conduct strikes and seize more land, the Israeli leadership faces widespread accusations of genocide.