Netanyahu Has Said Israel Now Controls 60% Of Gaza Despite The “Ceasefire”
Medics in Gaza said at least seven people, including three women and a child, were killed in the strikes and at least 50 others were injured.
Israeli prime minister says Israel now controls 60% of Gaza despite ceasefire.
On Sunday, May 18, Netanyahu made the comments during a cabinet meeting alongside Israeli defense minister Israel Katz.
“We are taking control of more and more territory. Already 60 percent. This is for today,” Netanyahu said.
Katz then responded, saying, “Maybe that changed in the last hour.”
As part of the first phase of the “ceasefire,” Israeli forces were to withdraw to a so-called “yellow line,” an Israeli-imposed invisible border cutting the Gaza Strip roughly in half, leaving more than 50% of Gaza under Israel’s control.
Netanyahu and Katz’s comments are one of Israel’s clearest public acknowledgements of how much territory it controls in Gaza since it began its genocide on Oct. 7, 2023, and how it is advancing to control even more territory under the “ceasefire.”
Earlier in the week, on Friday, May 16, Israel carried out airstrikes targeting Hamas’ military wing commander Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, who it described as one of the architects Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
Hamas confirmed Haddad’s assassination along with his wife and daughter on Saturday, May 17.
Medics in Gaza said at least seven people, including three women and a child, were killed in the strikes and at least 50 others were injured.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 72,772 Palestinians and injured another 472,468.
It has also violated the “ceasefire” over 2,400 times since it began on Oct. 10, killing at least 880 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Negotiations for the second phase of the “ceasefire,” which includes Hamas disarmament and Israeli forces' withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, have been stalled, with Israel’s repeated violations of the “ceasefire,” and as the two sides keep blaming each other for the lack of progress.
More On Israel's Genocide In Gaza
Sofia Hou
Cherry Mohamed
Sofia Hou
