Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has ordered the army to seize 70 percent of Gaza, CNN reported. Speaking at a conference in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu said Israel is "tightening" its grip on Hamas.
"We are now at 60 percent of the Gaza Strip. We were at 50 percent. We are moving towards 60 percent," he said. "My directive is to move, step by step, first towards 70 percent. Let's start with that.
As Netanyahu spoke, the audience called for him to take control of all of Gaza, CNN noted.
Taking more of Gaza would force an estimated 2 million Palestinians to live in a shrinking portion of the devastated coastal enclave. Under the October 2025 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces withdrew to a demarcation line known as the “yellow line”, which left them in roughly 53 percent of Gaza. Hamas accuses Tel Aviv of shifting this border, which hinders the chances of stabilizing the situation and de-escalation efforts.
Earlier, Bulgarian diplomat Nikolay Mladenov, who monitors compliance with the agreement, warned that without progress, the yellow line could become "a fence or wall for the permanent division of Gaza".