Share to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribeA yellow block demarcating the Yellow Line, in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, January. Credit: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP A yellow block demarcating the Yellow Line, in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, January. Credit: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he had directed Israel's military to take more of Gaza, initially by seizing 70 percent of the Palestinian territory, where the population is already penned into a tiny strip of land along the coast.Israel effectively controls an estimated 64 percent of the tiny coastal Strip, bombarded to ruins by Israel's two-year military assault that followed the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.Under an October U.S.-brokered truce that has failed to halt Israeli attacks or secure Hamas' disarmament, Israeli troops were meant to withdraw to a Yellow Line demarcating the extent of their control. Marked on military maps, that line put Israel in control of some 53 percent of Gaza, with Hamas ruling the rest.Reuters has reported that Israel has unilaterally moved the concrete blocks marking the Yellow Line on the ground deeper into Hamas-controlled territory. Maps issued by the military in March showed an even bigger restricted area that analysts say cordons off around 64 percent of Gaza's territory in total.Netanyahu has repeatedly said in public remarks that the military controls more than 60 percent of Gaza. Speaking to a conference in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli leader said even more of Gaza would be taken."We were at fifty, we moved to sixty. My directive is to move to - let's go step by step," Netanyahu said on Thursday."First of all, seventy. Let's start with that. We're pressing them (Hamas) from all sides. We'll deal with the remnants."In the NewsNetanyahu: I Ordered Israeli Forces to Expand Gaza Control to 70 PercentBy Legitimizing Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu Makes Kahane's Heir the Real Israeli Real PMIsrael Owes Obama an ApologyChannel 12 Poll: Netanyahu Coalition Wins 51 Seats, Eisenkot Party Rises to 17Israel's Wars of Deception: Escalation Masquerading as StrategyRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMI'Israelis Are More Genocidal Than You Think': The 'Counter Hasbara' of Andrey XFreed Gaza Flotilla Activists Report Sexual Abuse, Rape in Israeli CustodyFormer Israeli Soldier Dies by Suicide in Miami at Age 23Netanyahu's Promises of Victory in Iran End in a Glorious U.S. CapitulationWill Trump Forgive Netanyahu Over Iran? The Emerging Deal Suggests Not'What We Did in Gaza Is Certainly an Act of Revenge for October 7'