Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he directed the Israeli military to take more territory in Gaza by increasing its control from 60% of the territory to 70%, a clear violation of the US-backed ceasefire deal signed in October 2025.
“At this point, we are fully in control of 60% of the territory of the Gaza Strip… and my directive is to get to… 70%,” Netanyahu said in footage aired by Israel’s Channel 12, according to The Times of Israel.
Netanyahu made the remarks during a conference at the Ein Prat Leadership Academy in a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and an audience member shouted out that Israel should take “100%” of Gaza. Netanyahu didn’t dispute the idea that taking over the entire Palestinian territory was the ultimate, and replied by saying, “we’re going in order… First 70%. We’ll start with that.”
Netanyahu recently acknowledged that Israel now controls 60% of Gaza, more than the 53% of the territory it initially occupied after the signing of the October 2025 deal. The agreement states that the “IDF will not return to areas that have been withdrawn from, as long as Hamas fully implements the agreement,” and Hamas had fulfilled its side of the deal by releasing all living Israeli hostages and bodies that it had and working to recover other Israeli remains.
Israeli officials have claimed Hamas is violating the deal by not disarming, but the agreement didn’t commit Hamas to giving up its weapons. The two sides agreed to a US proposal that called for the “demilitarization” of Gaza as a framework for negotiations, but the issue of disarmament was meant to be worked out in follow-up talks.
Israel has also violated the deal by launching constant attacks in Gaza, which have killed more than 920 Palestinians since the agreement was signed. Recent days have been especially violent, with the Health Ministry in Gaza reporting on Thursday that at least 16 Palestinians were killed by IDF attacks over the previous 24-hour period.
