Netanyahu says Israel holds 60% of Gaza

Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel’s cabinet on Sunday that Israeli forces now control 60% of the Gaza Strip, an increase from the territory Israel held when a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect in October. Netanyahu’s comment, reported by Israeli media and other outlets, came as Israeli strikes killed at least eight Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials, and as indirect efforts to stabilize the truce remained stalled. Israel has continued military operations in Gaza during the ceasefire, saying it is targeting Hamas commanders and militants. Hamas, meanwhile, has gone months without naming a permanent political leader after the 2024 death of Yahya Sinwar. ### Where did Netanyahu’s 60% figure come from? Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that Israel now controls “not 50%, but 60%” of Gaza, according to The Times of Israel and other reports. The figure appears to refer to the area inside or behind Israeli military lines, including buffer zones and additional restricted areas that expanded after the ceasefire began in October. The Times of Israel said maps issued by Israel in March showed a new restricted area beyond the roughly 53% of Gaza that Israeli forces controlled at the start of the truce. (timesofisrael.com) ### How does that compare with the ceasefire lines? The October ceasefire was described at the time as leaving Israel in control of just over half the enclave while Hamas retained influence in the remaining areas where most of Gaza’s population lived. Reuters reported this weekend that Israeli troops remain in control of more than half the territory. (timesofisrael.com) The 60% figure suggests Israeli forces have moved beyond the earlier line set out under the ceasefire framework, according to reports citing Netanyahu’s remarks. AFP and other outlets separately reported that his comment was the first official public indication that Israel had expanded its footprint beyond the original demarcation. (usnews.com) ### What was happening on the ground in Gaza? Gaza health officials said Israeli strikes killed at least eight Palestinians on Sunday. Reuters reported the deaths as ceasefire efforts faltered, while India Today, citing the Israeli military, said the strikes targeted Hamas militants and commanders. (english.alarabiya.net) A Reuters report published on May 15 said Gaza medics had earlier reported at least seven Palestinians killed in airstrikes that Israel said targeted Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of Hamas’s armed wing. Another report on May 16 said Israel’s military later announced Haddad had been killed in a strike on Gaza City. (usnews.com) Reuters also reported on May 13 that Israel had stepped up attacks in Gaza in the weeks after halting joint bombing with the United States in Iran, while the military said Hamas was rearming. ### Why does Hamas’s leadership gap matter to the next phase? Hamas has been without a permanent political leader since Sinwar’s death in 2024, according to Reuters and The Independent. (msn.com) The group’s internal succession process has stretched on for months as the ceasefire’s next phase remained uncertain. Reuters reported that Hamas was at a crossroads seven months after the ceasefire and that its next leader could shape how the group approaches Gaza’s future. (msn.com) That assessment was attributed in the Reuters dispatch to the organization’s unresolved leadership contest and the fragility of the truce. The Jerusalem Post reported on May 17 that Hamas had failed to select a political leader in its latest internal vote and planned another round. (sg.news.yahoo.com) Reuters separately said another vote was expected. ### What happens next? Indirect ceasefire contacts have not produced a permanent end to the war, according to Reuters and other reports published over the weekend. (sg.news.yahoo.com) Israel has continued to strike Gaza during the truce, and Hamas has yet to settle its leadership question. The next concrete marker is Hamas’s pending leadership vote, which Reuters said is still expected after the group failed to install a permanent political chief. (jpost.com) Israeli military operations in Gaza and any further cabinet statements from Netanyahu are likely to be the next public signals on whether the 60% figure changes again. (sg.news.yahoo.com) (usnews.com)