Netanyahu says Israel controls 60 percent of Gaza, aims for more

Speaking at a conference on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel now controls 60 percent of the Gaza Strip.

"We are currently squeezing Hamas; we now control 60% of the territory of the Strip," he said. "We were at 50, we moved to 60. My directive is to move to," he said before pausing as someone in the crowd said, "100."

"Let's go step by step. First of all, 70. Let's start with that. We're pressing them from all sides, we'll deal with the remnants."

The expansion would contradict the terms of the Donald Trump-led ceasefire Israel and Hamas agreed to in October 2025. Under that deal, the Israeli military withdrew to a demarcation line known as the "yellow line."

Netanyahu has said publicly that the IDF controls more than 60 percent of the Strip, up from the 53 percent agreed in October.

At least 738 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable.

The next steps in the 20-point peace proposal call for Hamas to disarm and for Israeli troops to withdraw, but indirect talks have stalled.

On Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X that Israel had "pledged to eliminate everyone who led the October 7 massacre" in 2023. He also said a "plan for voluntary emigration from Gaza" would be carried out "at the proper time and in the proper manner."

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have defended what they call the "voluntary migration" of Palestinians from Gaza, which could amount to forced displacement, a war crime, and the resettlement of the territory by Jews.

This week several strikes hit Gaza. At least 10 people, including five children, were killed in an Israeli strike on a building in Gaza City late on Wednesday, according to local hospitals.

The attack came a day after the newly chosen head of the Hamas military wing, Mohammed Odeh, was killed along with his wife and two sons in an Israeli strike. One other woman was also reported killed.

The Israeli military said a strike on a car in Khan Younis on Tuesday killed Ihab Khrizim, the head of a Hamas funds transfer network, and Mohammed al-Habash, a unit commander in Hamas's production headquarters who was involved in weapons manufacturing.