Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday that Israel will take control of 70% of the territory of the Gaza Strip, where two million people live in dire conditions among the ruins after two and a half years of offensive, to take advantage of the fact that “at this moment we are tightening control over Hamas in all directions.” Netanyahu explained in a press conference that Israel has already gained control of 60% of Gaza and that the next step will be to reach 70%.
The increased pressure on Gaza by the prime minister comes after the “voluntary emigration” project for the population of Gaza was revitalized, according to the Israeli Defense Minister. The ethnic cleansing of the strip is a project of the far-right wing of Netanyahu’s government, which dreams of settlers returning to Gaza, from where they were forced to leave in August 2005 to facilitate an agreement with the Palestinian population, something that never happened.
Underlying Netanyahu’s move is both his desire to emerge victorious in the October elections, thus avoiding justice, and to hinder the attempts of the United States and Iran to reach an agreement in the region.
A possible agreement between Iran and the United States would not include Gaza, but it would highlight the growing isolation of the Israeli government.
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The words of the Israeli prime minister come after the attacks on the first day of the Muslim lamb festival, Eid al Adha, in which ten people died in Gaza. Among the victims were five children and an elderly man, whose funerals were held yesterday in the strip.
Since the fragile ceasefire decreed at the end of last October, the Israeli offensive has killed 922 more people and injured another 2,786, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
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