Benjamin Netanyahu orders Israeli forces to take control of 70% of Gaza

Standing before a group of Israeli army widows and orphans gathered in Jerusalem at the end of April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israel's "chain of heroes" as he spoke to the children about their fathers, who died in combat.

Under the US-brokered ceasefire in October, the Israeli army withdrew to a demarcation line which gave Israel direct control of 53% of the occupied territory.

His announcement came as negotiations on Gaza’s future have stalled over Hamas’s refusal to disarm and Israel’s nearly daily strikes in Gaza, both in apparent defiance of the cease-fire agreement struck in October, after two years of war.

Israel’s government has promoted the prospect of Gaza without Palestinians since Trump suggested early last year that hundreds of thousands of people should leave to “clean out” the strip for reconstruction.