Netanyahu orders his forces to control 70% of the Gaza Strip
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had ordered the army to take control of 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, in defiance of the terms of the ceasefire announced since October.
Speaking at a conference at an Israeli settlement in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu said: "We are currently besieging Hamas. . We now control 60% of Gaza's land.You know, we were at 50 percent, and then we went to 60 percent."
He continued: "My directives are to move to 70%, we are besieging them from all sides. We will take care of the rest later," according to a video broadcast by Israel's Channel 12.
Gaza: Israel kills 16 Palestinians in 48 hours
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced on Thursday that 16 Palestinians were killed in 48 hours, raising the death toll of the victims of the genocide committed by Israel since October 2023 to 72,819 dead.
This came in a daily statistical statement of the ministry, in which it said that during the past 48 hours, the hospitals in the Gaza Strip received "16 martyrs, in addition to 39 injured."
The ministry did not mention the circumstances of the deaths and injuries, while the Israeli army continues its violations of the ceasefire agreement announced since October 10 , 2025, by carrying out shelling and shooting operations, and indicated that the number of victims of Israeli violations of the agreement has risen to "922 martyrs and 2786 wounded."
The agreement was reached two years after a genocide that Israel began on October 8, 2023, and left behind, along with the victims, extensive destruction of 90 percent of civilian infrastructure, at a cost of reconstruction estimated by the United Nations at about $70 billion.
Israel kills Palestinian near mosque in Gaza
On Thursday, the second day of Eid al-Adha, a Palestinian was killed and others were wounded in an Israeli shelling that targeted a gathering of citizens in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.
A medical source reported that "the body of a martyr and a number of wounded" arrived at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, as a result of the shelling of an Israeli march by a group of citizens behind the Imam al-Shafi'i Mosque in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
At the same time, Israeli artillery shelled the vicinity of the Sanafoor junction in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, according to eyewitnesses to the Anadolu correspondent.
On Wednesday evening, the first day of Eid, 10 Palestinians, including two girls and two women, were killed and 18 others were wounded in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the vicinity of the Israa Tower on Omar al-Mukhtar Street in the center of Gaza City.
Israel Violates Armistice Agreement, Introduces Orange Line
Under the terms of the US-sponsored ceasefire agreement that went into effect in October 2025, the so-called "Yellow Line" was supposed to be the first withdrawal point for Israeli forces, a temporary separation between the areas of military control inside the Gaza Strip.
The basic agreement stipulated that Israeli forces would withdraw behind the Yellow Line, guaranteeing them control of 53 percent of the Gaza Strip – specifically the eastern region – in exchange for leaving 47 percent of the western area to Palestinians, where the population bloc and displaced people are concentrated.
In a remarkable development, the United Nations revealed in late April 2026 that Israel was establishing a new line it dubbed the "Orange Line," which would run within the western areas that were supposed to remain under Palestinian control. This line imposed additional restrictions on the movement of civilians and obliged humanitarian personnel to coordinate in advance to cross it, reducing the safe space available to the population and impeding the delivery of aid.