Hamas has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a “dangerous escalation” after he ordered the army to seize more territory in the Gaza Strip, accusing Israel of violating the October 2025 ceasefire that halted two years of war.

“Any attempt to impose a new reality of occupation in Gaza is null and illegitimate,” Ismail al-Thawabta, head of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said Friday, adding that Netanyahu’s statement “represents a dangerous escalation.”

“In a blatant violation of all agreements, as is their usual practice, Netanyahu announced expanding control over 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, while the killing and starvation continue,” Hamas spokesman Bassem Naim told AFP.

The October deal was envisioned as part of a larger process that would see the terror group disarm and the enclave demilitarized, but progress toward that vision has stalled, as Hamas has refused to lay down its weapons and Israel has continued striking deep inside Gaza, while facing allegations that it is violating additional terms of the October agreement.

Netanyahu said Thursday that he’d ordered the Israel Defense Forces to take control of 70 percent of the Gaza Strip – well beyond the portion of the enclave that Jerusalem was allowed to temporarily continue occupying as part of the deal with Hamas.

Netanyahu acknowledged last week that Israel already holds 60% of the territory, significantly more than the roughly 53% allotted to Israel in the ceasefire deal.

That truce, which secured the release of hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza, left Hamas in de facto control of the remainder of the Strip.

Any further reduction in space available to the more than 2 million Gaza residents, many of whom are living in tents in the tiny Palestinian territory, risks worsening already dire........

© The Times of Israel