Israeli PM orders army to take control of 70% of Gaza Strip

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he had ordered the country’s military to take control of 70% of the Gaza Strip, in defiance of the terms of a fragile ceasefire that took effect in October.

“We are currently squeezing Hamas. We now control 60% of the territory in the strip,” he said at a conference in an occupied West Bank settlement, according to a video aired by Israel’s Channel 12 network.

He said the military had controlled 50% of Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire, adding: “My directive is to move to… 70%”.

“We’re squeezing them from all (sides). We’ll deal with what’s left afterwards.”

The first phase of the truce saw the last hostages seized in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza, released in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.

The transition to the second phase, which was supposed to involve Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army, has been stalled for months.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israeli forces were to pull back behind a so-called “yellow line”, a demarcation between the area under Hamas control and that held by the Israeli army.

Netanyahu announced on May 15 that the Israeli army had expanded its grip on the Gaza Strip.

“There were those who said: get out, get out. We did not get out. Today we control… how much? 60 percent. Tomorrow we shall see,” he said at the time.

Gaza remains gripped by daily violence, with both the Israeli military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce in effect since Oct 10.

Israel has killed more than 900 people since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

Israel said on Wednesday it had killed the new head of Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, Mohammed Odeh, after killing his predecessor earlier this month.

Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack, Israel has systematically targeted the group’s leaders, both in Gaza and across the region.

Odeh is the fourth head of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades that Israel says it has killed since the start of the Gaza war.

On Wednesday, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz repeated Israel’s goal of ending Hamas’s rule over the Palestinian territory and alluded to a plan for the forced displacement of its residents.

“The plan for voluntary migration from Gaza will also be implemented — everything will be done at the right time and in the right way,” he said.

المصدر: Free Malaysia Today