Israel has expanded its control over Gaza and is considering more intense military action to squeeze the war-torn enclave even more.
The army has advanced beyond the agreed temporary border and now controls 60% of Gaza, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Tel Aviv radio station 103 FM this week. The figure was confirmed by another Israeli official and a foreign diplomat involved in monitoring the ceasefire, both of whom asked not to be identified by name as they discussed sensitive matters. The original border gave Israel control of 53% of Gaza.
“We are advancing and moving the yellow line and deepening the destruction of infrastructures,” Smotrich said.
It has been seven months since US President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire in Gaza. The truce was supposed to begin rebuilding the area after two years of Israeli strikes that killed tens of thousands of people and reduced large swaths of the area to rubble. But with wars in Iran and Lebanon diverting attention from Gaza, it is sinking deeper into misery. Hamas, the Iranian-backed militant group that rules populated areas, is not arming, Israel is stepping up airstrikes, and hundreds of people have been killed since the ceasefire took effect.
Spokesmen for the Israeli military and the Board of Peace, the international group tasked with implementing Trump’s plan, declined to comment.
Smotrich, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said Hamas’ ability to rearm is severely limited, but the group must be defeated.
“We will have to decide when to return to fighting in Gaza and in what configuration,” he said. “It’s clear that we have to end this war without Hamas in Gaza.”
Israel is considering more airstrikes to prevent Hamas from rebuilding, a Netanyahu aide said, asking not to be identified by name because of the sensitivity of the matter. That would likely mean attacks on the remaining Hamas strongholds on a district-by-district basis, they said.
Last month was the deadliest since the beginning of the year, with 140 reported deaths related to Israeli violence despite the ceasefire, independent conflict monitor ACLED said, estimating that Israel’s control of Gaza is about 58%. “Most of the attacks took place west of the yellow line,” said Nasser Khdour, the organization’s deputy head of Middle East research.
Plans for a ceasefire remain deadlocked, and Israel accuses Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and many others, of refusing to disarm. Hamas, on the other hand, says that Israel has violated the terms of the agreement and will not give up its weapons as a result.
Under the terms of the agreement, Israel is to gradually withdraw from Gaza, in conjunction with the demilitarization of Hamas and an agreement to relinquish administration of any part of the Palestinian territory.
“Failure to follow the details of the first phase is what prevents the transition to the second,” Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. He said more than 850 Palestinians had been killed since the October ceasefire.
“There will be no reconstruction of Gaza without decommissioning,” Nickolaj Mladenov, chief envoy to Trump’s peace council, told Tel Aviv-based i24News this week.
More than 80% of the displaced camps, where the majority of Gazans live, reported the frequent presence of rodents or vermin, along with skin infections such as scabies, lice and bedbugs, the UN said in a statement.
“They live in tents amid the rubble and are dependent on humanitarian aid for the most basic needs,” said Reinhilde Van de Weerdt, a representative of the World Health Organization.
One night last month, Yousef al-Ostaz’s family woke up to the screams of their one-month-old son. With no electricity, they shined phone lights on him and saw his face covered in blood. A rat bit him. After 10 days in hospital, he is improving, but the family says creams and medicines are expensive.
The Israeli military branch overseeing the needs of civilians in Gaza says it is working to improve hygiene and the flow of goods into the strip. Pesticides to kill rodents and rats, as well as medical equipment, were delivered to the strip, according to posts on X.
Restrictions on essential medicines and supplies must be removed, Van de Weerdt said. “Things have to change.
This article was generated from an automated news agency source without text modification.
