The New Number: 70%

Netanyahu said it out loud Thursday at a conference held — notably — in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

"We were at fifty, we moved to sixty. My directive is to move to seventy. Let's start with that," he said, according to footage aired by Israel's Channel 12 and confirmed by Reuters, BBC, and ABC News Australia.

When someone in the crowd shouted "100," Netanyahu didn't flinch. He said "let's go step by step."

That's a roadmap.

What Changed Since Yesterday

Israel previously controlled 60% of Gaza according to earlier coverage.

According to Reuters, Israel effectively controls an estimated 64% of Gaza right now — based on military maps issued in March 2026 that analysts say cordon off that share of the territory. Netanyahu's public 60% figure appears to be a floor, not a ceiling.

Israel has unilaterally moved the physical concrete blocks marking the Yellow Line deeper into Hamas-controlled territory. This isn't metaphorical. They literally moved the markers on the ground, according to Reuters reporting.

The Ceasefire Is a Fiction

Under the October 2025 U.S.-brokered truce, Israeli troops were supposed to withdraw to a "Yellow Line" that put Israel in control of approximately 53% of Gaza, with Hamas governing the rest. According to BBC News, at least 738 Palestinians have been killed since that ceasefire took effect — per the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.

Netanyahu is now publicly targeting 70%. The agreed line was 53%. The actual current control is 64%.

Hamas Leadership Is Getting Wiped Out

This escalation comes alongside a broader Israeli operation. According to US News & World Report citing Reuters, Israel on Tuesday killed Hamas's armed wing chief — ten days after killing his predecessor. Two heads of Hamas's military command, gone in under two weeks.

Israel says these strikes target senior Hamas figures directly responsible for the October 7, 2023 attacks. Netanyahu is framing the territorial expansion as "buffer zones" to prevent future attacks — the same language he uses to describe Israeli-held territory in Syria and Lebanon.

Eid Strikes and Palestinian Casualties

The latest Israeli strikes came during Eid al-Adha, one of the holiest periods on the Islamic calendar, according to AP News and ABC News Australia. AP News reported Palestinians mourning at least 10 killed in Eid strikes.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has publicly stated the goal of encouraging "voluntary migration" from Gaza. Palestinians — and plenty of international observers — see the expanding buffer zones as a mechanism for exactly that. Not security. Displacement.

What Mainstream Media Is Missing

Left-leaning outlets like AP and BBC are covering the casualty numbers and ceasefire violations correctly. But they give limited attention to the strategic logic Israel is operating on — which is legitimate to understand even if you find the methods objectionable. Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023. Israel has stated it will not leave a Hamas-governed territory on its border.

At the same time, outlets on the right are largely ignoring that Israel is blowing past the terms of a Trump-negotiated ceasefire. The October 2025 truce was a Trump administration achievement. Netanyahu is now openly shredding it. Where's the accountability?

The 20-point Trump peace proposal called for Hamas disarmament and Israeli withdrawal as next steps. According to BBC News, those indirect talks have stalled completely. Neither side is moving toward the plan. Trump brokered a deal that is not being honored — and Washington has issued NO public consequence.

The Numbers

The Yellow Line agreement: 53%.
Current actual Israeli control: 64%.
Netanyahu's new directive: 70%.

The civilian population is already, as Reuters put it, "penned into a tiny strip of land along the coast." Pushing to 70% compresses that further. There is no Gaza reconstruction plan in place. There is no governing alternative to Hamas that has been established. And the U.S. is negotiating a separate Iran nuclear deal while this continues unaddressed.

What This Means

The United States brokered this ceasefire. American credibility is attached to it. When an ally walks through its terms in public — on camera, at a conference — and Washington says nothing, the message to every other party in every other negotiation is clear: U.S.-brokered deals are optional.

That has implications beyond Gaza.