GAZA: Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a "blatant violation" of the October 2025 ceasefire after he ordered the army to seize more territory in the Gaza Strip. "In a blatant violation of all agreements, as is their usual practice, Netanyahu announced expanding control over 70 per cent of the Gaza Strip, while the killing and starvation continue," Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim said.
Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, also condemned the "complete silence" of US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace and its high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, on the topic. "Failing to condemn Israel's expansionist policies and forced displacement plans raises serious questions about the extent of the sponsoring parties' commitment to obliging Israel to adhere to its obligations" under the ceasefire deal, Qassem said in a separate statement.
On Thursday, Netanyahu had announced his intentions to have the military expand its control of Gaza from 60 per cent now, to 70 per cent. He said the military had controlled 50 per cent of Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire, adding: "My directive is to move to... 70 per cent". "We're squeezing them from all (sides). We'll deal with what's left afterwards."
The UN warned on Friday that an Israeli plan to take control of 70 per cent of Gaza will increase suffering among children already hit by the impacts of severe overcrowding. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to take control of more territory in the Gaza Strip, flouting the terms of a fragile ceasefire that took effect in October. He said the military had controlled 50 per cent of the Palestinian territory under the terms of the ceasefire, then advanced to take over 60 per cent.
The United Nations children's agency Unicef warned that this would deepen the health crisis among children in the war-ravaged territory, suffering from acute lack of food, water and hygiene. Israel controls the flow of aid into the territory along with all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.
Even before Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks inside Israel triggered the war in Gaza, the territory was already very densely populated. Now "people have been crammed into around 40 per cent of the space", Unicef spokesman Salim Oweis told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Gaza. People there were left "sheltering among broken buildings, rubble and mounting solid waste", he said, adding "there is no accessible space left to clear" the waste. "The effects of this are now widely apparent: children with respiratory infections, acute watery diarrhoea, and more than half of all households reporting skin diseases." — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
