Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to expand military control of the Gaza Strip to 70% during a conference in the Jordan Valley on May 28, according to footage aired by Israel’s Channel 12.
“We are currently squeezing Hamas. We now control 60% of the territory in the strip,” Netanyahu said. “My directive is to move to… 70%. We’ll start there.” When an audience member called for Israel to take 100% of Gaza’s territory, Netanyahu did not dispute the goal, telling the crowd the military was “going in order.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has ordered the military to take control of 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, in defiance of the terms of a fragile ceasefire that took effect in October.
Speaking at a conference in an occupied West Bank settlement, he said, “We are… pic.twitter.com/hSzyHSYtEK
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 28, 2026
The directive exceeds the October 2025 US-brokered ceasefire, under which the IDF pulled back to a demarcation line known as the yellow line, placing Israel in control of approximately 53% of Gaza. The IDF has already pushed past that threshold. Maps Israel issued to international aid organizations in late April recorded military control at 64% of the enclave.
A separate restricted zone, marked with an orange line, extends an estimated 11% further beyond the yellow line, putting thousands of displaced Palestinians inside a new military-regulated boundary, according to Reuters.
Hamas called the expansion an “explicit and ongoing undermining of the ceasefire agreement” and accused Israel of seeking to “impose new facts on the ground by force.”
Israel has killed more than 900 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Public Health, whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.
The day prior, the IDF struck senior Hamas commanders Ezz al-Din Beik, the northern Gaza brigade commander, and Imad Aslim, the Gaza City deputy brigade commander, in a single strike after both emerged from the group’s tunnel network. Israeli security officials officially confirmed their elimination on Thursday.
Defense Minister Israel Katz stated Wednesday that “the plan for voluntary migration from Gaza will also be implemented,” language human rights organizations characterize as forced displacement.
Ceasefire overseer Nickolay Mladenov warned earlier this month that without further progress, the yellow line risks becoming “a fence or wall, a permanent separation of Gaza.”
