UN Criticizes Netanyahu After Israel Orders Occupation of 70% of Gaza

The United Nations criticized Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to occupy 70% of Gaza, with UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric telling reporters at the U.N.'s New York headquarters on Friday, "100% of Gaza should be for the Palestinian people."

“The Behind the News program, in its June 1, 2026 episode, discussed the dimensions of Israel's plan to expand its control over the Gaza Strip and the motives behind its timing, presenting the views and positions with which the parties involved view such plans”

Al-Jazeera Net

Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel currently controls 60% of the Gaza Strip and signaled plans to expand it further to 70%, while the Israeli army announced in October last year that it controlled 53% of the Gaza Strip after redeploying to the so-called "yellow line."

Al-Jazeera Net

Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told Anadolu that Israel shifted the line by an additional 8% to 9% into Gaza’s territory, raising the area under Israeli control to more than 60%.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denounced what he described as the silence of the Board of Peace and its high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, regarding Israeli plans to control 70% of Gaza and continue efforts to displace Palestinians.

Qassem said the plans constitute a clear violation of the cease-fire framework and understandings regarding Gaza, urging countries represented on the Board of Peace to take a clear and public position and practical steps to pressure Israel to halt its policies in Gaza.

Six months after the ceasefire, Le Monde reported that phase two of Trump’s peace plan remains in limbo, framing the stalled process through the case of nine-year-old Ritaj Rihan, who was hit in the mouth by a bullet on April 9 while following her mathematics class under a tent in Beit Lahya.

Le Monde said the shots came from the area controlled by the Israeli army, and that in a written response received Monday evening, April 20, the army said it could not determine whether there were shots at that location on April 9.

Daily Sabah

The article also described how Israeli authorities have barred access to the enclave for the international press for two and a half years, while teacher Ayman Rihan said he was not able to return to school and that half of the students no longer come.

In parallel, the Radio France report said the announced reopening for this week of the Rafah crossing is limited to pedestrians, with the Israeli government warning that truck deliveries could conceal weapons.

Radio France added that if Hamas is not disarmed, there will be no reconstruction of Gaza, quoting Benjamin Netanyahu warning on Monday, January 26.

Israel challenged nominations within one body of the Gaza Peace Council on Saturday, January 17, with tv5monde reporting that the Gaza Executive Committee is a subdivision tasked with assisting a Palestinian technocratic committee of 15 members overseeing provisional administration.

“Peace plan for Gaza: Netanyahu under American pressure”

La Tribune

tv5monde said Netanyahu attacked the choice of members at a press conference with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, December 29, without specifying the nominations in question, and that a statement from Netanyahu's office said the announcement ran counter to Israel's policy.

The White House said the Gaza Executive Committee would assist the technocratic committee of 15 members, which began its work on Thursday, January 15, in Cairo, while tv5monde reported that the body included Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and a representative of Qatar.

tv5monde also reported that Palestinian Islamic Jihad greeted the announcements coolly, with one of its leaders, Osama Hamdane, describing the Peace Council as a return to the era of mandates and colonialism.

Radio France, meanwhile, tied the next steps of the U.S. plan to hostage returns, saying the return of all Hamas hostages was an indispensable condition for resuming the American peace plan and that the Israeli government had made the return of all hostages, both living and dead, an indispensable condition.