We will take it in stages. First 70 percent.
Meses depois de um cessar-fogo que prometia contenção, o primeiro-ministro israelita Benjamin Netanyahu anunciou publicamente a intenção de expandir o controlo militar israelita para 70% da Faixa de Gaza — reconhecendo já ter ultrapassado os limites acordados. O que foi apresentado como um acordo de transição revela-se, progressivamente, como a arquitectura de uma ocupação permanente, enquanto mais de 72.000 palestinianos perderam a vida e a população restante luta pela sobrevivência mais elementar. Na história longa dos conflitos por terra e soberania, este momento assinala a transformação de um cessar-fogo em instrumento de consolidação territorial.
- Netanyahu anunciou publicamente que Israel já controla 60% de Gaza — sete pontos percentuais acima do permitido pelo cessar-fogo — e ordenou ao exército que avance para os 70%, enquanto a multidão pedia 100%.
- A segunda fase do cessar-fogo, que deveria implicar a retirada israelita e o desarmamento do Hamas, nunca chegou a concretizar-se, deixando o acordo sem qualquer mecanismo de cumprimento real.
- O ministro da Defesa propôs separadamente a 'migração em larga escala' dos palestinianos de Gaza, sugerindo que os objectivos vão além do controlo militar e apontam para uma transformação demográfica permanente.
- No terreno, hospitais funcionam a geradores, a água potável escasseia, os esgotos descarregam directamente no mar e as universidades foram destruídas — a infraestrutura da vida quotidiana entrou em colapso total.
- Desde o início do cessar-fogo, 922 palestinianos morreram, incluindo a mulher e três filhos de um comandante do Hamas morto num mercado às vésperas do Eid al-Adha, num padrão de operações que não abrandou.
Benjamin Netanyahu discursou numa academia de liderança num colonato da Cisjordânia e anunciou aquilo que equivale a uma reescrita unilateral do cessar-fogo de outubro de 2025. Israel, disse, já controla 60% de Gaza — ultrapassando os 53% acordados — e ordenou ao exército que avance para os 70%. Quando alguém na audiência pediu 100%, Netanyahu não rejeitou a ideia. Disse apenas que seria feito por etapas.
O cessar-fogo, que deveria conduzir a uma retirada israelita substancial e ao desarmamento do Hamas, nunca avançou para a sua segunda fase. O que restou foi uma ocupação que se aprofunda em vez de recuar. Funcionários palestinianos já tinham alertado para o avanço da chamada 'linha amarela' — o limite do território controlado por Israel — cada vez mais para o interior de Gaza. Agora, o primeiro-ministro tornava essa expansão política explícita.
O anúncio surgiu no mesmo dia em que forças israelitas mataram Mohammed Odeh, um comandante militar do Hamas, juntamente com a sua mulher e três dos seus filhos, num mercado de Gaza, às vésperas do Eid al-Adha. O activista de direitos humanos Mustafa Ibrahim descreveu ao Haaretz como a renovada intensidade das operações militares esvaziou qualquer esperança: as pessoas já não falam em construir uma vida melhor — pedem apenas água limpa, electricidade, hospitais, a possibilidade de estudar ou trabalhar.
Mais de 72.000 palestinianos morreram desde o início do conflito, num número que se sabe subestimado. Desde o cessar-fogo, 922 morreram. Os hospitais funcionam a geradores, os esgotos descarregam no mar, as universidades foram destruídas. A sobrevivência tornou-se a única aspiração realista.
O ministro da Defesa, Israel Katz, propôs separadamente a 'migração em larga escala' dos palestinianos para fora de Gaza. As duas declarações, tomadas em conjunto, desenham uma ocupação que não é temporária nem transitória, mas que está a ser consolidada e expandida — usando o cessar-fogo não como caminho para uma resolução, mas como cobertura para o seu oposto.
Benjamin Netanyahu stood before an audience at a leadership academy in a West Bank settlement and announced what amounted to a unilateral rewriting of the ceasefire agreement that had supposedly halted fighting in Gaza. Israel, he said, already controlled 60 percent of the territory. His directive to the military was to push that figure to 70 percent. When someone in the crowd called out asking for 100 percent, Netanyahu did not dismiss the idea. He simply said they would take it in stages—70 percent first.
The statement, delivered in Hebrew and broadcast by Israeli Channel 12, represented a stark departure from the terms agreed to just months earlier. The October 2025 ceasefire had stipulated that Israel would control 53 percent of Gaza. Netanyahu's acknowledgment that the country already exceeded that limit by seven percentage points, and his order to expand further, signaled that the agreement's constraints were being treated as a starting point for negotiation rather than a binding commitment. The second phase of the ceasefire—which was supposed to bring a substantial Israeli withdrawal and Hamas disarmament—never materialized. What remained was an occupation that was deepening, not receding.
Palestinian officials had already raised alarms about what they called the "yellow line," the boundary marking Israeli-controlled territory, creeping steadily deeper into Gaza. Now the prime minister was making the expansion explicit policy. The announcement came as Israeli forces killed Mohammed Odeh, a Hamas military commander, along with his wife and three of their children in a marketplace in Gaza City, just before the Eid al-Adha holiday. The killing was one incident in a pattern of intensifying military operations that had shattered whatever fragile sense of respite the ceasefire's opening weeks had offered.
Mustafa Ibrahim, a human rights activist on the ground in Gaza, described to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz how the renewed intensity of Israeli operations had hollowed out hope. People no longer spoke of building better lives or securing their wellbeing, he said. They asked only for the most basic things: clean water, steady electricity, functioning hospitals, the chance to study or work or receive medical care. The infrastructure of ordinary life had collapsed. Hospitals ran on generators. Water pumps were unreliable. Sewage flowed directly into the sea. Universities had been destroyed. Schools that still stood served as shelters for the displaced.
The human toll had been staggering. More than 72,000 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza since the conflict began—a figure widely understood to undercount the actual dead. Since the ceasefire took effect, 922 more had died, including 16 in just the previous two days. The October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that had triggered the war killed 1,200 Israelis. The asymmetry in casualties, the duration of the occupation, and the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure had created a situation where survival itself had become the only realistic aspiration.
Netanyahu's announcement was not made in isolation. His defense minister, Israel Katz, had separately proposed what he called "large-scale migration" of Palestinians out of Gaza—a statement that suggested the territorial ambitions went beyond military control to something more permanent. The two declarations, taken together, painted a picture of an occupation that was not temporary, not transitional, but being consolidated and expanded. The ceasefire, whatever its original intent, was being used as cover for the opposite of what it had promised: not a path toward resolution, but the entrenchment of control.
Notable Quotes
People no longer speak of having a good life or their wellbeing. They ask for basic things: clean water, steady electricity, functioning hospitals, the ability to study, work, or receive medical treatment.— Mustafa Ibrahim, human rights activist in Gaza, to Haaretz
My directive is to reach 70 percent. When asked about 100 percent, Netanyahu responded: we will take it in stages, first 70 percent.— Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
When Netanyahu says Israel controls 60 percent and wants 70, what does that actually mean on the ground? What changes?
It means the military footprint expands—more checkpoints, more patrols, more territory where Israeli forces set the rules. It's not just a line on a map. It's where Palestinians can and cannot move, where aid can and cannot reach, where reconstruction can happen or cannot.
The ceasefire was supposed to prevent exactly this. Why is it failing?
Because the second phase never started. That's where the withdrawal was supposed to happen. Without it, the occupation just calcifies. What was meant to be temporary becomes permanent.
What does "large-scale migration" mean? Is that a euphemism?
It's a proposal to move Palestinians out of Gaza entirely. The defense minister said it plainly. Combined with Netanyahu's territorial expansion, it suggests the goal is not just military control but demographic change.
How are people surviving in this situation?
Barely. The activist described it clearly—no clean water, no reliable electricity, hospitals on generators, universities destroyed. People have stopped thinking about the future. They're asking for water and medicine.
Is there any mechanism to stop this expansion?
Not that's visible. The ceasefire agreement exists on paper, but Netanyahu is openly violating it and announcing further violations. There's no enforcement mechanism that's working.
What comes next?
The occupation deepens. The second phase of the ceasefire stays dead. The humanitarian situation deteriorates further. And the question of what happens to the people living there remains unanswered.