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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a Memorial Day ceremony held in Jerusalem on April 20 (local time). / Photo via AP, Yonhap

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on May 28 (local time) that he has instructed his military to seize control of 70% of the Gaza Strip. Displaced from a vast majority of their homeland, the Palestinian population in Gaza remains heavily pushed back and confined primarily to the coastal areas.

According to reports from Reuters and CNN, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated during a meeting held at a settlement in the occupied West Bank that Israel is progressively mounting its strategic pressure against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"We currently control 60% of the Gaza Strip," Netanyahu remarked, adding that "we have successfully expanded our presence to 60%, up from the previous 50% marker."

Furthermore, he clarified, "My directive is to incrementally expand that footprint to 70% in the immediate phase. We are effectively squeezing Hamas from all directions."

Since the outbreak of the war triggered by the Hamas-led incursions in October 2023, Netanyahu has consistently characterized the occupied zones within the Gaza Strip, Syria, and Lebanon as vital buffer zones designed to neutralize potential attacks from regional militant factions.

Conversely, Palestinians view the expansionist military maneuver as a calculated strategy aimed at their permanent displacement. To support this assessment, they pointed to public statements made by high-ranking Israeli officials—including Defense Minister Israel Katz—who have openly encouraged the voluntary emigration of Palestinians out of Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) previously demonstrated its expanding operational footprint in a map distributed to international humanitarian aid organizations late last month, which indicated that Israeli forces held military control over approximately 64% of Gaza's territory.

Following a temporary truce agreement brokered with Hamas in October of last year, the IDF had initially withdrawn to a demarcation boundary known as the "Yellow Line," which concentrated its military deployment within a zone encompassing roughly 53% of the Gaza Strip.

                                                                                                             Kim Hyun-min