In a move that openly flouts the October ceasefire agreement brokered to end years of conflict in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday he has instructed the Israeli military to expand its territorial control in the strip to 70 percent. Speaking at a leadership conference hosted by the pre-military Ein Prat academy, Netanyahu confirmed that Israeli forces currently hold sway over 60 percent of Gaza’s total territory, and that his official order is to push that figure to 70 percent in the coming phase of operations. When audience members called for full Israeli control over the entire enclave, Netanyahu responded that the expansion would proceed in stages, with the 70 percent target as the immediate next step.
Netanyahu’s announcement came just 24 hours after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reaffirmed the country’s controversial plan to encourage what he framed as “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza, a policy widely condemned as a push for ethnic cleansing. “Everything at the right time and in the right manner,” Katz stated of the plan.
The ceasefire agreement, signed by Israel and Hamas with U.S. backing in October, was intended to end the two-year armed conflict in Gaza. The text of the deal includes explicit provisions banning any Israeli occupation or annexation of Gaza, and guarantees that no Palestinian resident will be forced to leave the territory. It also froze the military positions held by both parties at the time the agreement went into effect, with planned later phases that would require incremental Israeli withdrawal from captured areas.
When the ceasefire first took effect, Israeli forces controlled approximately 53 percent of Gaza, including large swathes of the enclave’s northern, southern, and eastern regions. Since that time, Israel has already expanded its hold to reach the current 60 percent. A further expansion to 70 percent would leave Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinian residents crowded into just 109 square kilometers of remaining land.
This latest announcement of territorial expansion is far from the only violation of the ceasefire that Israel has been accused of committing over the seven months the agreement has been in place. Gaza’s Government Media Office reports that total Israeli breaches of the deal have surpassed 3,000. The Palestinian Ministry of Health records that Israeli forces have carried out near-daily air strikes and ground shootings targeting Palestinian civilians, killing more than 922 people since the ceasefire began. The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) confirms that at least 229 of those killed are children.
Since the start of the latest conflict in October 2023, overall Palestinian deaths from Israeli attacks in Gaza have reached at least 72,800, with thousands more still trapped under rubble and presumed dead. The pace of attacks has accelerated this week, coinciding with the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha: the Palestinian health ministry recorded 16 Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli forces between Tuesday and Wednesday of this week alone.
Israel has also failed to uphold key ceasefire provisions related to humanitarian aid access. The agreement required Israel to allow up to 600 aid trucks carrying food, fuel, medical equipment, shelter materials, and commercial goods into Gaza every day. But Gaza’s Government Media Office data shows the daily average over the life of the ceasefire has been just over 200 trucks. International aid organizations warn that this restricted flow of assistance has left Gaza’s catastrophic humanitarian crisis largely unaddressed, with severe, ongoing shortages of life-sustaining supplies across the entire enclave.
In response to Netanyahu’s announcement and the ongoing pattern of Israeli violations, Hamas issued a formal warning Thursday that the entire ceasefire agreement is now at imminent risk of total collapse. The report was produced by Middle East Eye, an outlet that provides independent, in-depth coverage of the Middle East, North Africa and global regions affected by the conflict.