Israel has stepped up its control over the Gaza Strip and is considering more intense military action to further squeeze the war-torn region. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said this week that the army had moved beyond the agreed temporary border and now controlled 60% of Gaza. That figure was confirmed by another Israeli official and a foreign diplomat involved in monitoring the ceasefire. The original border gave Israel control of 53%.“We are pushing and pushing the yellow line further and deepening the destruction of infrastructure,” Smotrich said. It has been seven months since US President Donald Trump announced the Gaza ceasefire. The ceasefire was meant to begin rehabilitation of the area after two years of Israeli attacks that killed thousands and reduced vast tracts of land to rubble. But as attention has shifted from Gaza due to the wars in Iran and Lebanon, it is sinking further into misery. Hamas is not disarming, Israel is increasing airstrikes, and hundreds of people have been killed since the ceasefire took effect.Smotrich said Hamas’s ability to arm itself is severely limited, but the group must be defeated. “We have to decide at what moment we will go back to fighting in Gaza and in what form,” he said. A senior Netanyahu aide said Israel was carrying out further airstrikes to prevent Hamas from rebuilding. This will likely involve district-by-district attacks. This is Bloomberg’s story.