Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the Israeli military to take control of at least 70 per cent of Gaza, defying the terms of a US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas that took effect in the Palestinian enclave last year.
The Israeli prime minister’s comments, broadcast by Channel 12, come after Israel escalated its operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hizbollah in Lebanon. In recent days Israeli forces have killed a senior Hamas commander in an air strike and advanced deeper into southern Lebanon.
“We are currently squeezing Hamas. We now control 60 per cent of the territory of the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said during an interview at an event in a settlement in the occupied West Bank.