JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had given instructions to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to control 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, Palestine, in an Hebrew-language statement delivered at a conference held by the Ein Prat Leadership Academy.
"Currently, we fully control 60 percent of the Gaza Strip and my direction is to reach 70 percent," Netanyahu said in a recording of an event broadcast by Channel 12, reported The Times of Israel (28/5).
When a participant shouted that Israel should take "100 percent" of the territory in Gaza, Netanyahu replied "we will do it gradually," but did not deny that this could be the ultimate goal.
"First 70 percent," he said.
"We will start from there," he said.
Last week, Netanyahu admitted that Israel had seized 60 percent of the territory in the Gaza Strip, far more than it should have seized.
An Israeli map released in March shows new restricted areas outside the 53 percent of Gaza that Israel controls after an October 2021 U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
The prohibited area, marked on maps with an orange line, covers about 11 percent of Gaza's territory outside the "Yellow Line" that limits the Gaza Strip occupied by Israeli forces since the ceasefire.
The area restricts almost two-thirds of Gaza's overall territory.
Quoted from CNN, President Trump in his post on Truth Social on October 4, 2025 for the first time shared a map of the Israeli troop withdrawal line in accordance with the peace plan he proposed in October 2025. Israeli troops will be withdrawn to the area behind the Yellow Line in the first phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The Gaza ceasefire is known to take effect from October 10, 2025.
Late last month, Israel reportedly moved a yellow block marking the yellow line to the west along Salah Al Din Street - the main route connecting the north and south of the Gaza Strip.
The New Arab quoted Arabic-language media reports as saying that the Israeli army had turned the so-called Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip into a new border, through the establishment of dozens of new military posts.
Meanwhile, the Arabi21 report said the presence of checkpoints meant the military presence in the area was no longer temporary and effectively turned the Yellow Line into a new border.
Since Israel established the Green Line in October, the army has targeted and killed every Palestinian who approaches it, and has used the empty area around it to set up military posts.
According to reports, streetlights have been installed around the posts, and can be seen from the higher western part of Gaza.
The forward posts are mostly located in the buffer zone between Rafah and Khan Younis, with other posts in the Ma'an and Bani Suheila areas, as well as east of Deir al-Balah, al-Bureij, Shujaiya, and al-Maghazi.
For six months since the ceasefire, Israeli forces have shifted the agreed ceasefire line in Gaza to the west, expanding their control zone and making the precarious situation more dangerous for Palestinians, The Guardian reported.
The Yellow Line agreed to in the US-mediated ceasefire was supposed to be temporary pending further Israeli troop withdrawals, but the ceasefire, which was partially adhered to, stalled after its first phase amid disputes over Hamas disarmament, and continued Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
Since then, the yellow line has shifted forward in some places, expanding the military-held territory far beyond the 53 percent of Gaza implied in the original truce map.
According to the research institute Forensic Architecture, in December Israel had seized 58 percent of Gaza's territory and continued to advance.
Hamas senior official Bassem Naim told Anadolu, Israel has shifted the line by 8 to 9 percent into Gaza territory, thus increasing the area under Israeli control to more than 60 percent.
The changes have reduced the space available to Palestinians to about 38 percent of the enclave, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
This situation triggered a new wave of displacement, especially in Khan Younis, eastern Gaza, and parts of northern Gaza, as families moved further west to avoid gunfire.
This is also accompanied by air raids, artillery fire, and direct fire that have killed and injured Palestinians, often with claims of approaching or crossing the original line.
Meanwhile, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Israeli authorities had introduced new limits outside the Yellow Line, which the humanitarian team called the "orange line."
"Now there is another color line. The line called the orange line has been introduced to our humanitarian colleagues," Dujarric said.
Officials and analysts warn that the ever-shifting boundaries risk becoming de facto reality on the ground.
Hamas had also warned of this change. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Israel's move violated the terms of the ceasefire brokered by mediators last October.
"The continued violations are exhausting civilians and limiting their lives," Qassem said, calling on mediators to intervene and ensure compliance, launching The National.
"We hold the Israeli side and the mediators responsible for the continuation of these violations and violations of the rights of the people of Gaza in various ways," Qassem said.
"As well as continuing policies that exhaust civilians, hinder their movement, and restrict their lives," he said.
Israeli officials have hinted at such a possibility.
Earlier this year, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir described the "Green Line" as a "new border line" and a forward defense line. Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Katz said Israeli forces would remain in the area until Hamas was disarmed.
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