“One hundred percent of Gaza should be for the Palestinian people,” UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Friday. 

“That is what we want to see, and we have been calling on Israel to pull back from its occupation from the so-called yellow line, and that will continue to be our position," Dujarric added.

His remarks came after Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel currently controls about 60 percent of the Gaza Strip and intends to expand that figure to 70 percent. He provided no details on how the additional territory would be seized.

The Israeli military announced in October last year that it controlled 53 percent of Gaza after redeploying to the so-called “yellow line” under the first phase of a plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to end the war in the territory.

The arrangement envisioned further Israeli withdrawals during a second phase that began in January.

The “yellow line” is a temporary separation zone in eastern Gaza that divides areas under Israeli military control from areas where Palestinians are permitted to remain.

Palestinian sources, however, warn that the boundary has steadily moved westward in recent months.

Bassem Naim, a senior member of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, said Israel has pushed the line a further 8 to 9 percent into Gaza, bringing the territory under Israeli control to more than 60 percent.

Israeli forces have also expanded a network of earth berms along the line, creating elevated positions overlooking Palestinian neighborhoods and giving tank crews and snipers clear views across large areas of Gaza’s devastated urban landscape.

Since launching its genocidal assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and wounded at least 172,000 others, the majority of them women and children.

The Israeli war has also devastated Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, sports facilities, power plants, water networks and residential neighborhoods across the besieged territory.

The widespread destruction and continuing blockade have displaced much of Gaza’s population, leaving Palestinians trapped in the besieged territory and heavily dependent on humanitarian aid that enters only in limited quantities.