Israel now controls 64% of Gaza, plans to take 70%

The Israeli army now controls 64% of the Gaza Strip, pushing more than two million people into just 36% of the territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently announced plans to expand control to 70%, forcing thousands more Palestinians to flee. A new United Nations report, which received little attention, says Israel is creating "conditions of life increasingly incompatible with the continued existence of Palestinians in Gaza as a group." The report comes from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Since October, Israeli attacks have killed more than 900 people and wounded thousands. The military has taken 10% more Palestinian land in Gaza during this period. The expansion follows what Israel calls the "yellow line" – a border set by former US President Donald Trump's plan to divide the territory. Israeli troops move concrete blocks painted yellow at night to mark this moving frontier. When they do, they force Palestinians to move again. The military often uses violence, shooting at tents, schools, and homes. Recently, a girl named Ritaj Abdel Raouf Rihan was killed while attending class in a refugee camp near the yellow line. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said this week that the government plans to make "a large number of Palestinians leave Gaza at the right time and in the right way." Israeli journalist Gideon Levy warns this sets the stage for "mass expulsion." In a recent article, Levy said that now Gaza is "almost completely destroyed," Israel is moving to the next phase: leaving the population "permanently disabled, injured, sick, hungry, homeless, and unemployed." The area Israel occupies includes most farmland, water reserves, desalination plants, and waste treatment facilities. Palestinians are left with desert, unproductive land. The so-called "ceasefire" was never real, according to analysts and UN officials. The US plan always made its goals clear, but European partners supported it anyway. In November, the UN Security Council approved the plan, even though it violates international law. The same pattern is happening in the West Bank, where new settlements are forcing more Palestinians out. On Friday, the Israeli army killed a seven-month-old baby in Hebron. In southern Lebanon, Israel has destroyed 81 villages and forced more than one million people from their homes. That is 22.6% of the population. Since March, Israel has launched more than 1,840 attacks on Lebanon, killing 3,560 people and wounding 10,800. The military uses a method called "double or triple tap." First, they fire to force people to flee. Then they attack ambulances and rescue teams. Finally, they bomb again to kill the wounded. They used this method to kill Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil. Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd says: "What Israel is doing in Lebanon is clearly a genocidal act against Shia Muslims. It is an attempt to reoccupy and annex a huge part of the country. It is frustrating that Western media keep ignoring Israel's endless colonial expansion." In Syria, Israel has expanded to control 400 square kilometers of territory beyond the occupied Golan Heights. Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Israel has launched hundreds of attacks. In April, Israel approved a $334 million plan to expand settlements in the Golan Heights, aiming to bring 3,000 more settler families. This week, US media reported that Trump scolded Netanyahu on the phone and called him "crazy." This story got far more headlines than the latest killings in Gaza or the plan to empty the strip and southern Lebanon. But such public disagreements do not change US support for Israel. Since 1985, Israel has received $3.6 billion in US military aid every year. The US sees Israel as an extension of its own interests in the region. US military officials call Israel "America's aircraft carrier in the Middle East." The attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Iran are all part of the same plan to expand political and military control. The US gives Israel time and weapons. Israel acts as a military contractor for Washington. Anthropologist Maya Wind described this as "a great diplomatic theater" designed to strengthen Israeli colonial control. "They talk about a Palestinian state again and again while moving in the opposite direction. It is a constant distraction that prolongs the status quo," she said. The theater allows Israel to continue its plan of destruction and emptying in Palestine and beyond. The complicity is historic.