Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel would take over yet more territory in Gaza, putting a new number on a war that has already redrawn the enclave. Speaking at a conference, he said Israel controlled 60 percent of the territory of the Strip and gave a fresh directive to move to 70 percent, adding, “First of all, 70. Let’s start with that.”
The announcement lands now because it runs straight against the terms of the October 9, 2025 peace plan, which said Israeli forces were meant to pull back behind the Yellow Line and hold 58 percent of the territory until a full withdrawal was set later. Instead, Israel had already expanded its territory by about 11 percent in the months after the agreement, and satellite data gathered in March showed at least 32 military outposts, a ground barrier and other infrastructure along the temporary line.
Netanyahu cast the move as part of the fight against Hamas, but the numbers he cited showed how far Israeli control had already gone beyond what the ceasefire arrangement described. By April 2026, the article says Israel had choked off access to about two-thirds of the enclave for its inhabitants, making the question of control less about a temporary battlefield position and more about the shape of daily life in Gaza.
That is also where the deal’s enforcement has come apart. The United States was supposed to enforce the ceasefire conditions, yet a State Department spokesperson avoided addressing Israel’s ceasefire violations and instead said all responsibility lay with Hamas. At the same time, humanitarian agencies, including Oxfam, accused Israel of restricting deliveries of aid and other essential goods, while the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs voiced deep concern about Gaza as shortages deepened.
The legal stakes are rising with the footprint on the ground. Michael Becker said that if Israel’s ultimate plan is to exercise permanent effective control over the entire Gaza Strip, it would amount to unlawful annexation, citing a 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice that reaffirmed annexation as a violation of the ban on acquiring territory by force. Since the war began in October 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 72,819 men, women and children in Gaza, and Netanyahu’s 70 percent target leaves the clearest unanswered question in the conflict: whether the next phase is another temporary advance or the beginning of a longer hold.
