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Netanyahu
orders Israeli army to seize ‘70% of Gaza Strip’, violating ceasefire deal
Speaking in
West Bank settlement, Israeli PM, who is fighting for political survival before
elections, says ‘we are squeezing Hamas’
Seham
Tantesh in Gaza and Julian Borger
Thu 28 May
2026 19.14 BST
Benjamin
Netanyahu has said he has given orders to the Israeli army to seize control of
70% of the Gaza Strip in a move that threatens to torpedo an already fragile
ceasefire and create catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the already
devastated territory.
Under the
US-brokered ceasefire in October, the Israeli army withdrew to a demarcation
line which gave Israel direct control of 53% of the occupied territory. Since
then, Israeli forces have steadily advanced their positions westward into the
Hamas-controlled half of the strip, and declared an ever-expanded no man’s land
west of that, within which they claim the right to decide who can enter and
open fire on anyone perceived as a threat.
In recent
days, Israeli-backed armed militias have taken a leading role in emptying the
territory along the ceasefire line, telling residents to vacate their homes or
shelters.
Throughout
the eight months of the ceasefire, Israeli forces have continued to open fire
on Palestinians within range of the “yellow line” splitting the strip, and
carry out airstrikes deeper inside western Gaza, killing more than 900
Palestinians since the truce began.
Speaking at
a conference in an occupied West Bank settlement, Netanyahu, who is struggling
for his political survival before elections in the next few months, spelled out
the extent of Israel’s territorial goals.
The Israeli
prime minister said: “We are currently squeezing Hamas. We now control 60% of
the territory in the strip. You know, we were at 50, we moved to 60. My
directive is to move to … 70%.”
The defence
minister, Israel Katz, said on Wednesday that the government’s ultimate aim was
for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza by what he called “voluntary
migration” but what human rights activists describe as a long-term plan for
ethnic cleansing by making living conditions inside Gaza intolerable.
The
expansion of Israeli military control would be a direct violation of the
October ceasefire, the UN security council resolution that endorsed it, and
Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, which laid out a temporary “yellow line”
splitting Gaza into Israeli- and Hamas-run halves pending further peace
negotiations.
The Trump
plan also said: “No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to
leave will be free to do so and free to return. We will encourage people to
stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.”
Muhammad
Shehada, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said:
“Netanyahu is now declaring the whole Trump deal, the framework for Gaza, to be
null and void. That’s what it means in a nutshell. There’s no other way to
spell it out.”
Israeli
forces have systematically destroyed the remaining buildings in their zone, so
its expansion to 70% of Gaza would mean that the 2.2 million Palestinians who
have survived the war would be crammed into less than a third of their original
territory, which was already overcrowded.
“The
conditions there are already appalling. It is the single most overcrowded place
on the face of the planet,” Shehada said. “Every square metre has another
displaced family, another makeshift tent, or some sort of improvised shelter on
it. So it would be a death sentence for a lot of people who physically have no
place to go.”
An Israeli
army spokesperson referred a request for comment on Netanyahu’s 70% threat “to
the political echelon”.
Israeli
forces have been steadily expanding their area of control over the course of
the ceasefire. A UN briefing on Sunday for the heads of humanitarian agencies
working in Gaza recorded some of the most recent encroachment.
In the
northern district of Jabalia, for example, the UN presentation, which has been
seen by the Guardian, said: “Tanks advancement [were] reported on a daily basis
– drones targeting any movement close [to] the yellow line.”
Israeli
tanks were also reported advancing east of the southern city of Khan Younis.
The UN
briefing refers to an Israeli-backed anti-Hamas militia run by a Gaza warlord,
Ashraf al-Mansi, saying it had advanced westwards from the yellow line around
Jabalia last week.
Such
militias have been increasingly active along the yellow line, apparently
functioning as shock troops for the Israeli army, carrying out attacks on Hamas
but also telling Palestinian residents near the yellow line to leave their
homes.
Wael Nayef
Abu al-Ajeen, a 26-year-old who lives to the east of Deir al-Balah in southern
Gaza, said his family had been forced out by militiamen earlier this month.
“It was at
around 1pm when armed men affiliated with the militias entered our area. They
went to the homes of the Abu al-Ajeen family there and informed them that they
had until 10pm to evacuate all the houses in the area,” Ajeen said. “They
instructed them to take whatever furniture and belongings they could carry and
to empty the houses as much as possible. They also told them not to return
until they were contacted and informed that it was permitted.
“As a
result, everyone panicked, and people gradually began leaving and moving their
furniture and whatever belongings they could carry until the area was almost
completely emptied.”
Nasser
Khdour, a researcher at monitoring group the Armed Conflict Location and Event
Data Project said: “We have seen that the militias are not only attacking
Hamas, but also they are contributing to pushing the residents who are living
close to their line, further to the west.
“We have
seen killing, arresting and kidnapping of civilians living in these areas, and
recently, there’s an increase also in the militias’ patrolling activities.”
A UN
security council resolution passed in November, delegated the monitoring of the
ceasefire to a Trump-appointed Board of Peace, which named a Bulgarian UN
veteran diplomat, Nickolay Mladenov, as “high representative in Gaza”.
Mladenov was
widely criticised for his report to the security council last week, which
assigned primary blame for the failings of the ceasefire on Hamas, accusing it
of refusing to disarm, without holding Israel accountable for its violations.
Hamas has signalled it is ready to discuss disarmament once Israel has
fulfilled its obligations under the first phase of the ceasefire, in particular
by ceasing the bombardment of Gaza and withdrawing to the original yellow line.
Gershon
Baskin, an Israeli analyst who has taken part in several Israeli-Palestinian
backchannel negotiations, said he believed the original ceasefire plan had
collapsed.
He said: “My
understanding is that the negotiations with Hamas are over. The Americans gave
Hamas the offer on a plan for disarmament, which took into account all the
things that Hamas demanded already two months ago, but Hamas didn’t respond”
Baskin said
he believed the US would now switch to a fallback plan aimed at carrying out
reconstruction work in the Israeli-run “green” zone, and only allowing
Palestinians to move there from the Hamas-run “yellow” zone, who had been
vetted for links to Hamas or other radical groups.
Baskin said:
“At the end of the day, the only people remaining in the yellow zone, according
to the Americans, are Hamas and other armed groups. And then Israel will be
free to deal with them as they want. This is the thinking, this is the
planning, and this is what I see happening in the coming weeks and months.”
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