Israel's 70% Gaza expansion plan defies ceasefire, escalating conflict

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly declared an intent to expand Israel’s control over the Gaza Strip from approximately 60 to 70 percent, a move that directly contradicts the spirit and letter of the October ceasefire. During a broadcast on Israel’s Channel 12, Netanyahu stated, “We are going in order - first 70 percent,” in response to an audience member suggesting Israel take the whole of Gaza. This declaration is not merely a political statement; it represents a significant escalation of Israeli expansionism, building on previous actions that already placed 64 percent of Gaza under direct Israeli control, exceeding the 53 percent stipulated in the October agreement. This creeping expansion is generating immediate international friction, with Germany’s Foreign Ministry expressing opposition to any permanent division of the enclave, and Hamas calling the order a “dangerous escalation.”

This expansionist posture is unfolding against a backdrop of deepening international isolation and escalating violence, even during the recent Eid al-Adha holiday. Despite a ceasefire covering the enclave, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported that at least 33 Palestinians were killed and over 130 wounded over the four days of Eid, from May 27 to May 30. The violence was not limited to combat; it included settler attacks, such as in Khirbet Masoud near Jenin, where a settler torched a Palestinian home and car, spray-painting “Mazel tov” across the walls in apparent mockery of the holiday. Furthermore, Israeli soldiers were reported firing tear gas at families visiting relatives’ graves in Jenin, and security forces pulled the headscarf off a woman visiting Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, highlighting the pervasive nature of the conflict's impact on civilian life and cultural practices.

The international legal and humanitarian dimensions of the conflict are also deteriorating rapidly. On May 28, several Israeli entities were added to the annual blacklist maintained by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, following credible suspicions of patterns of rape and conflict-related sexual violence. Guterres’s accompanying report, which covers 2025, documented UN-verified cases affecting 14 men, seven women, nine boys, and one girl from Gaza and the West Bank, attributing these cases to the Israeli military, the Israel Prison Service, and special police units. The notorious Sde Teiman military camp and several facilities used to detain Palestinians have also been cited as sites of abuse, prompting Israel to cut ties with Guterres. This report coincides with growing international outrage over the Global Sumud Flotilla scandal, where Israeli forces violently detained activists attempting to provide essential humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza, leading France to ask prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into the treatment of its detained citizens.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis deepens in tangible, measurable ways. The director of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the only government hospital in central Gaza serving half a million people, announced that operating rooms had ceased functioning after a fourth backup generator failed, putting dialysis, neonatal, and intensive care units at risk of shutting down. Reconstruction efforts, eight months into the ceasefire, remain stalled. The Financial Times reported that none of the $17 billion pledged has reached the board’s World Bank fund, with the fraction of funds actually delivered routed to a private JPMorgan account outside UN oversight. The cumulative death toll, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, stands at at least 932 Palestinians since the October 11 ceasefire, and at least 72,941 since October 7, 2023, with many other bodies still buried under the rubble.

Beyond the immediate conflict, the strategic military actions signal a return to high-stakes confrontation. Israel has intensified an assassination campaign against the Hamas leadership amid growing fears of a full-blown war. On May 26, Israel killed Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed head of Hamas’s armed wing, along with his wife and children in a strike on Gaza City, just 11 days after the killing of his predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad. Israeli military radio has framed these assassinations as preparation for “the resumption of fighting.” This military buildup is paralleled by reports of an anti-Hamas militia in Gaza operating military drones, which some believe could have been provided by Israel, suggesting an escalation in the direct armed support provided to such groups.

The violence is also spiking in the occupied West Bank. During the Eid holiday, the West Bank saw a surge of settler violence, particularly in the south and villages around Ramallah and Nablus. The most serious attack occurred on May 30 in Madama, south of Nablus, where dozens of settlers from a newly established illegal outpost shot and wounded seven Palestinians. Settlers reportedly stole more than 100 sheep, and Israeli soldiers were reported firing alongside them and blocking Red Crescent crews from reaching the wounded. Elsewhere, field reports described settlers torching homes and vehicles, including one filmed incident where settlers pushed a Palestinian’s car off a cliff near Deir Abu Mash’al after the owner refused to hand over the keys. These actions underscore a pattern of escalating settler aggression that continues regardless of international truces.

In the political sphere, the conflict is marked by internal Israeli divisions and external international pressure. Two Likud Party ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet, May Golan and Amichai Chikli, separately called for Israeli settlements to be rebuilt inside Gaza, further complicating any path toward a permanent resolution. This internal push for settlement expansion runs counter to the international calls for de-escalation and highlights the deep political divisions within the Israeli government regarding the future of the territory. The confluence of Netanyahu’s expansionist declaration, the systemic humanitarian collapse, and the documented pattern of settler violence creates an extremely volatile operational environment with profound implications for regional stability and global governance.