“We are now pushing Hamas into a corner. We were at 50 and now we control 60 percent of the territory in the Gaza Strip. My goal is to get to 70 percent,” Netanyahu told local television at a Thursday conference in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, as recalled by the Al Arabiya website.
“Let’s start with that. We’ve surrounded them from all sides. We’ll take care of the rest later,” added the Israeli prime minister after spectators in the crowd called for control of the entire area.
In recent weeks, the number and intensity of incursions by armed groups supported by Israel and seeking to overthrow the government of the Hamas movement have increased. From the areas controlled by the Israeli army, they are trying to penetrate into the territories administered by Hamas.
Israel now controls more territory than stipulated in the US-brokered ceasefire agreement of last October. According to that, at that moment Israeli troops controlled approximately 53 percent of the Gaza Strip, noted the Yenisafak portal.
However, the cease-fire is repeatedly violated by Israel and the terrorist movement Hamas, for which both sides accuse each other.
