Israel Expands Gaza Control to 64%, Kills Baby in West Bank as Palestinians Mark Ongoing Nakba

The Israeli army now occupies 64% of the Gaza Strip, forcing more than two million Palestinians into a shrinking strip of land comprising just 36% of the territory [167530]. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to expand Israeli control to 70%, which would force thousands more Palestinians to flee their remaining shelters [167530]. The expansion follows what Israel calls the "yellow line" – a border originally set by former US President Donald Trump's plan to divide the territory – with Israeli troops moving concrete blocks painted yellow at night to mark this moving frontier, often using violence against tents, schools, and homes [167530].

A new United Nations report from the High Commissioner for Human Rights states that Israel is creating "conditions of life increasingly incompatible with the continued existence of Palestinians in Gaza as a group" [167530]. The area Israel occupies includes most farmland, water reserves, desalination plants, and waste treatment facilities, leaving Palestinians with desert and unproductive land [167530]. Since October, Israeli attacks have killed more than 900 people and wounded thousands, while the military has taken 10% more Palestinian land in Gaza during this period [167530]. Since the ceasefire began on October 10, 2025, more than 960 Gazans have been killed, and the total death toll since October 2023 has reached over 72,900, according to the Gaza Health Ministry [167531].

On Sunday, the Israeli army killed a seven-month-old baby in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, when soldiers opened fire on the family's car [167531]. The parents, both teachers at the Palestinian Ahliya University in Bethlehem, were seriously wounded [167531]. The Palestinian Ministry of Education called the attack part of a "continuous pattern of violations" by Israel against Palestinians, including the academic community, and said it "constitutes further proof of the magnitude of the daily tragedy suffered by the Palestinian people" [167531].

Meanwhile, five people were killed and 17 wounded on Sunday in an Israeli army strike on a police post in the Mawasi displacement camp in southern Gaza [167531]. The camp is densely populated, and Israel had previously designated Mawasi a "humanitarian zone" and ordered civilians to move there, where at its peak about 400,000 people lived in tents with poor sanitation, scarce drinking water, and no electricity [167531]. The Sunday attacks follow a Saturday in which Israel killed 13 other Gazans [167531].

Palestinians are observing the 78th anniversary of the Nakba, or "catastrophe," which refers to the mass displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war [149344]. This year's theme is: "We will not leave. Our roots are deeper than your destruction" [149344]. Senior Palestinian official Ahmad Abu Holi described Israel's ongoing military operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank as a "continuation of the Nakba," stating that "our people have proven over these decades that they cannot be broken, despite all impossible conditions, including starvation, thirst, deprivation of education and systematic attacks" [148811].

Displaced Palestinians in Gaza have staged protests demanding the immediate reopening of border crossings and unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid, condemning the ongoing Israeli blockade as the root cause of a deepening hunger crisis [156964]. Demonstrators, many living in temporary shelters, chanted for the international community to pressure Israel to allow full and unhindered access for relief convoys, as aid agencies warn that fuel, medicine, and basic supplies remain critically low [156964].