Tertius News is an AI-native newsroom: an AI model reads the source articles linked below — on this story, all of them from one outlet — and extracts what that outlet reported, claim by claim. How this works →
Netanyahu says Israel to expand control over 70% of Gaza Strip
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to expand military control over 70% of the Gaza Strip, citing Hamas's refusal to disarm. Reports indicate the Israeli army has already increased its control from 53% to 59% since the October 2025 ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a weekly cabinet meeting that Israel intends to expand its military presence in the Gaza Strip and establish control over 70% of its territory. According to his office, Netanyahu stated: "In the Gaza Strip, we are squeezing Hamas from all sides. We currently hold over 60% of the Strip's territory, and we will soon reach 70%. We are not allowing them to rearm or harm us, and we are also eliminating their senior commanders."
Coverage Comparison
TASS reported Netanyahu's announcement, framing it as part of Israel's ongoing military expansion in Gaza. A separate TASS report, citing The Wall Street Journal, detailed that since the ceasefire in October 2025, the Israeli army has expanded its control over the Gaza Strip from 53% to 59% and established at least seven new outposts. The same report noted that the Israeli military has taken control of the Salah al-Din road, a major north-south route in Gaza.
Both reports place the expansion in the context of stalled peace talks. The ceasefire, which took effect on October 10, 2025, followed an agreement signed on October 9 between Israel and Hamas to implement the first phase of US President Donald Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan. Under that agreement, Israeli troops withdrew to the so-called Yellow Line but retained control over more than 50% of the enclave's territory.
Key Claims
Netanyahu announced at a weekly cabinet meeting that Israel intends to expand its military presence in the Gaza Strip and establish control over 70% of its territory.
The Israeli army has expanded its control over the Gaza Strip from 53% to 59% since the ceasefire, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal cited by TASS.
The Israeli army has established at least seven new outposts in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The Israeli military has taken control of the Salah al-Din road in Gaza, according to the same report.
Israel and Hamas signed an agreement on the implementation of phase one of US President Donald Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan on October 9, 2025, with the ceasefire coming into effect on October 10, 2025.
The Board of Peace was established as part of the Gaza Strip peace settlement, and representatives from 19 countries signed its Charter on January 22.
Perspectives
Israeli Government
Prime Minister Netanyahu frames the expansion as a necessary measure to squeeze Hamas, prevent rearmament, and eliminate senior commanders, citing Hamas's refusal to disarm as a key obstacle.
Board of Peace
A Board of Peace spokesperson called on both sides to fulfill their obligations under the peace plan, referring to a roadmap that calls for the gradual transfer of weapons to a special Palestinian body under international supervision.
How this outlet told it
TASS — English
Framing: Israel's expansion of military presence in Gaza — neutral
Facts Included:
Israel intends to expand its military presence in the Gaza Strip
Israel aims to establish control over 70% of the Gaza Strip's territory
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the plan at a weekly cabinet meeting
Israel and Hamas signed an agreement on the implementation of phase one of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan on October 9, 2025
The ceasefire came into effect on October 10, 2025
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimIsrael intends to expand its military presence in the Gaza Strip and establish control over 70% of its territory.