With the possibility that the Hamas negotiating delegation will return to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, after the Eid al-Adha holiday to continue ceasefire talks on Gaza, Israel has escalated its attacks on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Three Palestinians were killed, and others were wounded overnight between Monday and Tuesday, 26 May, in an Israeli strike targeting a Palestinian police checkpoint west of Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Field sources told The New Arab that an Israeli drone fired at least two missiles at the police security point in the al-Maslakh area, causing casualties.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, acknowledged on Thursday, 28 May, that his country's army currently occupies 60% of the Gaza Strip, revealing plans to expand control to 70% .
Israel's Channel 12 quoted Netanyahu as saying during a seminar in an illegal Israeli settlement in the Jordan Valley, "We now control 60% of the Gaza Strip, and my instructions are to move towards controlling 70%."
The Israeli army had announced in October last year that it controlled 53% of Gaza's territory after withdrawing to what it called the "yellow line" as part of implementing the first phase of US President Donald Trump's supposedly plan to end Israel's genocidal war on Gaza .
Under the plan, the Israeli army was supposed to carry out further withdrawals from Gaza during later phases. The "yellow line" is a virtual line inside the Gaza Strip to which the Israeli army temporarily withdrew under the ceasefire agreement, with further withdrawals expected later. It separates areas under Israeli army control from areas where Palestinians are permitted to remain. On 17 February, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in press statements that Israel would not move "a single millimetre" from the " yellow line " in Gaza before Hamas was disarmed.
Reuters reported, based on satellite images and testimonies from Gaza residents, that the Israeli army destroyed dozens of buildings and displaced Palestinians in violation of the ceasefire agreement when it moved blocks marking the dividing line deeper into one of the city’s neighbourhoods in December. Satellite images showed that the occupation placed concrete blocks intended to demarcate the "yellow line" in areas across Gaza, sometimes dozens or hundreds of metres inside territory not under its control, while also establishing at least six fortified military positions. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said that "the occupation continues to shift the yellow line westward, and this is a clear and major violation of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip". "This also means confining all residents of the Gaza Strip into a narrow strip in western Gaza, in an area that is 30% smaller than the total area of the Strip," Qassem added. Article translated from Arabic by Afrah Almatwari. To read the original, click here .