During a visit to Israeli troops remaining in the Palestinian enclave, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that his Army controls "60% of the Strip" and will not withdraw from there because "we have a lot left to do." The statement contradicts the roadmap determined by the so-called 'Peace Board', which links the disarmament of Hamas with the withdrawal of Israeli troops. Furthermore, the Israeli Defense Minister insisted on the plan to force the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.

First modification: 09/02/2026 - 20:49

In a message with an electoral air, less than two months before the general elections, Benjamin Netanyahu insisted this September 2 on a position that has little to do with the ceasefire agreement sponsored by the United States: that Israel will remain in Gaza.

It is not the first time that the Israeli prime minister has raised this idea, but the setting and the moment give it greater impact. The statements were made during a tour of the Palestinian enclave, a day after the intense bombings that followed an incursion into Gaza City, and in the midst of the attempts of the so-called 'Peace Board' to advance the disarmament of Hamas, an action that should be followed by the Israeli withdrawal.

Smiling and in front of the rubble of Palestinian homes devastated by the Israeli invasion, Netanyahu boasted that "we control 60% of the Strip and we still have a lot to do." "We are not withdrawing. We remain on this line," the Israeli Prime Minister stressed in his video statement, referring to the so-called 'yellow line', the fictitious demarcation for the area occupied by Israeli troops, which they have quietly expanded since the beginning of the apparent truce.

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With the elections on October 27 as a kind of referendum on his management and political future, Netanyahu seems to focus his messages on retaining the support of his far-right and ultra-nationalist bases, which demand a permanent Israeli presence in Gaza and even the construction of settlements, illegal under international law.

Dressed in a military vest and surrounded by soldiers, the Israeli premier questioned his main electoral rival and leader in the polls, Gadi Eisenkot, who, when he joined the unity government during the first months of the Israeli invasion of Gaza, "wanted us to surrender and get out of here," according to Netanyahu. "Well, I didn't hear it," he stressed.

The Israeli chief executive also stressed that he has "largely" achieved his objectives in Gaza, but noted that "there is still work to complete, and we will complete it."

Read alsoIsraeli airstrikes in Gaza leave at least three dead, including a four-year-old child

The Israeli Army kills two minors in Gaza

On the other hand, Netanyahu also celebrated Tuesday's infiltration of Gaza City to capture an officer of Hamas' internal security service, accompanied by intense shelling that caused the death of at least four Palestinians, including a woman and two children aged 3 and 13.

While Israel assured that the operation was carried out by "special forces" from the Shin Bet (Israeli internal intelligence agency), Arab media and witnesses stated that members of a Gazan militia that collaborates with Israel also participated in the raid.

During the tour with the Israeli Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, and other senior military officials, Netanyahu stressed that "we are doing everything possible to achieve our goal: the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza."

Within the framework of the negotiations on the disarmament of Hamas and after the Israeli rejection of the initial guidelines of the pact, the 'Peace Board', the body created by the Donald Trump Administration to supervise the apparent ceasefire, has accepted that Israel carry out attacks in Gaza against "immediate" threats to Israeli troops, a vague name that, furthermore, does not establish retaliation for potential Israeli non-compliance.

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In fact, in recent weeks the forces of the Jewish State have resumed selective attacks on infrastructure, which they allege belong to Hamas, or raids similar to the one on Tuesday.

Likewise, throughout the supposed truce reached in October 2025, Israeli attacks have continued almost daily, causing more than 1,300 Palestinian deaths, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian enclave. And this Wednesday was no exception.

In a shootout in the Jabalia refugee camp, in the north of the Strip, the Israeli Army killed two minors, identified by Gaza health authorities as Ibrahim Ismail Al Hersh (16 years old) and Hazem Hatem Marshoud (17).

In addition, an Israeli drone attacked a tent in the Mawasi area, in Khan Younis, southwest of Gaza, killing a young man and injuring four other people, two of them seriously, according to local media.

Meanwhile, sources at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah (center) indicated that a 51-year-old woman, identified as Amina al-Hissi, succumbed to serious injuries caused by gunshots from Israeli soldiers the previous day, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Katz insists on Gaza ethnic cleansing plan

In line with Netanyahu's statements, his Defense Minister, Israel Katz, insisted on an idea that, at least on paper, Trump's 'Peace Board' seems to have ruled out: the mass expulsion of the Palestinian population from Gaza, an irrational proposal initially raised by the US president that international organizations and experts denounced as a possible ethnic cleansing of the Strip.

In a conference organized by the Israeli media Yedioth Ahronoth, Katz stated that Israel "is organized and prepared" to forcibly transfer the Gazan population "by sea, by air, by any means possible," and that it is only waiting for the United States to determine where to take them.

At the beginning of his second term, Trump had proposed the expulsion of the two million Palestinians from Gaza to create what he called a luxury tourist 'Riviera', an unrealizable idea that was met with widespread international rejection but that emboldened the Israeli government, which for years has raised that possibility under the euphemistic figure of "voluntary emigration."

Little by little, the American president abandoned that proposal and the 20-point plan that he intends to implement in the Palestinian enclave includes, instead, the slogan of "encouraging people to stay and offering them the opportunity to build a better Gaza."

However, according to Katz, the ethnic cleansing proposal is not ruled out but was "frozen" by Trump, waiting for countries to agree to receive the expelled Palestinians.

"The plan has not been canceled; it is constantly being discussed, even now, and I believe that there is no other solution for the good of all," declared Katz, who alleged, without evidence, that 80% of the population of Gaza wants to leave but Hamas does not allow it.

"But for this to happen, we need the United States. When will we get its approval? When it becomes clear that Hamas is not fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire," he said.

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It should be noted that the forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime, according to the Geneva Conventions, while Netanyahu and Katz's predecessor, Yoav Gallant, are under arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.

Furthermore, for multiple legal experts and international organizations, Israel's brutal actions in the Palestinian Strip constitute a "genocide" against the Palestinian population of the enclave, an accusation that has also been raised by multiple nations in an ongoing judicial process against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Since the beginning of the Israeli invasion of Gaza (after the unprecedented attack by Hamas in southern Israel that caused 1,200 deaths on October 7, 2023), Israel has killed more than 73,400 people in the Palestinian Strip, according to figures from the local Ministry of Health, endorsed by the UN.

With EFE, AFP and local media

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