Published on 5/30/2026
During the recent meeting of the mini-ministerial council for political and security affairs (cabinet), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a proposal to expand ground control over the Gaza Strip. The idea was discussed in the discussions without a final decision being taken on it.
Netanyahu had stated during the past few days that his directives call for controlling about 70% of the Gaza Strip’s area, but informed Israeli media sources confirmed that no official instructions have yet been issued to the security services or the army to implement a plan aimed at controlling this percentage or expanding the scope of the field occupation to additional lands in Gaza.
According to the peace initiative proposed by US President Donald Trump, Israel maintains what is known as the “yellow line,” which includes about 52% of the Gaza Strip’s area.
The Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” reported on Friday that Netanyahu said during a ceremony held on Thursday evening, on the occasion of the anniversary of the occupation of East Jerusalem, that the army currently controls 60% of the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper indicated that this is a larger percentage than was stipulated in the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States that entered into force in October 2025, which was estimated at about 53% of the area of the Strip.
Haaretz said that last January it published a field report on the movement of the Yellow Line westward, noting that this expansion has continued in recent months, exceeding each time the very limited living space remaining for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli newspaper described it.
Anatolia News Agency reported from local sources that Israel continues to move this line, in field military operations, the most recent of which was on May 10, when Israeli vehicles removed the yellow-painted cement cubes towards the west of Salah al-Din Street, in the Netzarim axis area in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
According to the agreement, the “yellow line” separates the areas under the control of the Israeli army in the east, and the areas in which Palestinians are allowed to exist in the west, and covers about 53% of the area of the Strip.
But Israel did not adhere to this, and gradually moved from the yellow line to new areas deep in the Strip, in an area recently called the “orange line.”
