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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces now control 60% of the Gaza Strip, suggesting the military has expanded its presence beyond the area outlined under a U.S.-brokered cease-fire plan that has been in effect since October.
Netanyahu made the remarks Thursday at an event marking Jerusalem Day, as Gaza remains gripped by daily violence and efforts to advance the fragile truce toward a permanent end to the war appear to have stalled.
“In the past two years we have shown the entire world what mighty forces are embedded in our people, in our state, in our army, in our heritage,” Netanyahu said.
“We brought back home all our hostages, up to the last one,” he added, referring to one of Israel’s main stated aims in the Gaza war. “There were those who said: get out, get out! We did not get out. Today we control 60%; tomorrow we shall see.”
Under the terms of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces were to withdraw to the so-called “Yellow Line” in Gaza, leaving them in control of more than 50% of the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu’s comments were the first official indication that the military was expanding its footprint after media reports in recent weeks said Israeli troops were moving up to a new so-called “Orange Line.”
The first phase of the truce saw the last hostages seized in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel released in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.
The second phase involves the more difficult issues of Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip.
Progress toward those goals has stalled in ongoing talks between Hamas and mediators.
Israeli media has reported that if Hamas refuses to disarm, the military is preparing to resume fighting in Gaza.
Netanyahu has hinted several times that Israel will finish the job if the Palestinian Islamist movement does not disarm.
More than 850 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
Over the same period, the Israeli military said five soldiers have been killed in Gaza.
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