After two years of relentless bombardment and ground invasions, Israel’s future in Gaza had appeared to be settled with the signing of United States President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan on October 9, 2025.
Under the terms of that agreement, Israeli forces were meant to withdraw behind what planners called the “Yellow Line”, maintaining control of 58 percent of the territory, with their full withdrawal to be set at a date to be determined.
That withdrawal hasn’t happened. In fact, in the months since, as well as killing at least 922 people in near-daily strikes on the enclave during the “ceasefire”, Israel has expanded its territory by about 11 percent.
According to satellite data gathered in March, it has also established at least 32 military outposts, a ground barrier and infrastructure along what was supposed to be a temporary line.
Since October last year, numerous humanitarian agencies, including Oxfam, have accused Israel of compounding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by restricting deliveries of aid and other essential goods.
Then, on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel will take over yet more territory in Gaza, telling a conference: “We are currently squeezing Hamas; we now control 60 percent of the territory of the Strip – you know this. We were at 50. My directive is to move to 70.”
Al Jazeera contacted the Israeli prime minister’s office for clarification but received no response.
“If Israel’s ultimate plan is to exercise permanent effective control over the entirety of the Gaza Strip, we are talking about unlawful annexation,” Michael Becker, a professor of international human rights law at Trinity College in Dublin, told Al Jazeera.
Since the onset of its war on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 72,819 people in Gaza, with many thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble. By 2025, Israel had caused a confirmed famine in the enclave and has now decimated nearly all infrastructure needed to support life.
Hopes that the US might enforce its own conditions on Israel also appear ill-founded. Since announcing a ceasefire in October last year, the US has failed to react as Israel has expanded and entrenched its presence in Gaza.
Israel’s answer to this is simple. “The plan for voluntary emigration from Gaza will also be implemented,” Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote in a statement. Observers typically acknowledge that this means the ethnic cleansing of the enclave.
“The idea of permanently removing Palestinians from Gaza smacks of forced displacement and would also violate the fundamental right to self-determination of the Palestinian people,” Becker said. He added that international attention has shifted to the US and Israel’s war on Iran, as well as Israel’s actions in Lebanon.
Source: www.aljazeera.com