Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Thursday that he had directed the Israeli military to expand its control of the Gaza Strip to 70 percent of the Palestinian enclave, ratcheting up the pressure on Hamas, the militant group that rules the rest.
His announcement came as negotiations on Gaza’s future have stalled over Hamas’s refusal to disarm and Israel’s nearly daily strikes in Gaza, both in apparent defiance of the cease-fire agreement struck in October, after two years of war.
At the time, as provided by the cease-fire, the Israeli military pulled back to an area encompassing roughly 53 percent of the ravaged enclave. But it has gradually taken more territory in Gaza, sometimes simply by moving concrete blocks with which it marks the boundary. Earlier this month, Mr. Netanyahu disclosed that Israel had increased its control to 60 percent of the territory.
Hamas retains de facto control of the shrinking western stretch of Gaza, where the vast majority of its roughly 2 million Palestinians are living, including many who have fled or been pushed out of the portion under Israeli control. Many Gazans displaced throughout the two-year war were warned not to approach the Israeli side.
Speaking Thursday at a conference sponsored by a pre-military academy and a West Bank local government agency, Mr. Netanyahu boasted that Israel had expanded its grip on the Gaza Strip.
“We are now in 60 percent of the territory,” he said, adding, “We were at 50. We moved to 60.” As members of the audience shouted that Israel should take 100 percent of the territory, he demurred: “First of all, 70,” he said. “Let’s start with that.”
Israeli analysts said that being more aggressive in Gaza could help Mr. Netanyahu, who is in an uphill battle for re-election later this year, to deflect Israelis’ attention from grim news elsewhere. Israeli forces in Lebanon have been struggling to stop Hezbollah’s attacks, particularly with drones, and many Israelis expect U.S.-led talks with Iran to result in a bad deal.
Addressing Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks, Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official, accused the Israeli leader of doing “everything to destroy” the cease-fire agreement.
“He is standing against the will of the international community,” Mr. Badran said in a statement. “With his statement and actions, he is proving that Hamas is not the party obstructing the continued implementation of the cease-fire deal.”
A spokesman for the Board of Peace, the new international body created by President Trump to oversee the cease-fire and the reconstruction of Gaza, declined to comment. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dan Rothem, a senior analyst for the Israel Policy Forum, a liberal advocacy group, said that Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing political base sees the status quo in Gaza as “mission incomplete or mission failure.” Expanding Israel’s area of control — or even going back to war in Gaza, if squeezing Hamas provokes it into providing Israel with a pretext — is preferable, to many of Mr. Netanyahu’s supporters, he added.
“Does Netanyahu figure that escalation in Gaza will benefit him or hurt him politically?” Mr. Rothem said. “That’s the key question that will drive the next weeks and months in Gaza policy.”
The prime minister has left it unclear what holding the territory will mean in the long run. Some elements of his political coalition want Israel to annex all or part of Gaza and the West Bank.
Palestinian analysts said expanded Israeli control would only further embitter life in Gaza.
“This decision will squeeze and suffocate the people,” said Jaser AbuMousa, a political analyst from Gaza who is now based in Boston. “There will be more displacement, difficulties, and suffering.”
More than 900 people have been killed in Gaza since the cease-fire took effect more than seven months ago, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Just this week, Israel carried out several deadly strikes in Gaza population centers in pursuit of Hamas senior leaders. A strike on Tuesday killed a man whom Israel identified as the leader of Hamas’s military wing, after his predecessor had been killed in another strike earlier this month. And on Wednesday, Israel said it had targeted two other officials.
Adam Rasgon contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.
