Qassem condemned, in an interview with Al Jazeera, Netanyahu’s declaration to extend control over more than 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, along with Israeli Defence Minister Katz’s statement about proceeding with plans to displace Gaza’s residents.
“These are clear violations of the ceasefire agreement. This is a complete coup against the agreement,” stressed Qassem.
“Control over 70 percent means displacing hundreds of thousands again. It means blowing up hundreds and tens of thousands of homes again, or what remains of homes in the Gaza Strip. This confirms what we had said before: that this government has the intention to stage a coup against this agreement at the appropriate moment for its internal calculations.”
The escalation comes as Israeli attacks continue across Gaza, with medical sources reporting a rising death toll, a worsening hospital crisis, and new strikes on civilian gatherings and police checkpoints.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, the death toll from Israel's genocidal war on Gaza has risen to 72,939 Palestinians killed and 172,927 injured since October 2023.
Medical sources said hospitals across Gaza received one newly killed victim, another who succumbed to previous wounds, and eight injured people over the past 24 hours.
The sources added that since the ceasefire that took effect on 11 October 2025, at least 930 Palestinians have been killed and 2,819 injured, while 781 bodies have been recovered from different areas of the Strip.
Medical officials said countless victims remain trapped under rubble and in the streets, with ambulance and rescue crews facing continued difficulties reaching them.
In a separate development, medical sources told Wafa that the operating room at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital had gone out of service after all of its electrical generators completely stopped functioning.
The sources warned that the hospital’s generator crisis had reached a critical stage following the shutdown of its fourth backup generator, adding that the units had become severely worn after operating continuously for more than a year.
According to the sources, dialysis services, neonatal care, intensive care units, and laboratory departments are now at risk of shutting down.
According to Palestine Online, an Israeli drone strike also targeted a Palestinian police checkpoint near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah on Saturday, killing Jamal Abu Oun and wounding two others.
Abu Oun was identified in some reports as the head of the anesthesia department at Yafa Hospital and in others as chief nurse at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. He was a resident of Al-Bureij refugee camp.
Palestine Online also reported that two people were wounded, one of them critically, after Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a civilian gathering near the Firas market in central Gaza City.
Artillery shelling was reported northeast of Al-Bureij refugee camp, as well as in central and southern Khan Younis and western Rafah. A powerful explosion was also reported in the Mawasi area west of Rafah as a result of artillery fire.
Israeli quadcopter drones were spotted over the Asdaa prison area and the industrial zone north of Khan Younis, according to the report.
The attacks followed a day in which five Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes targeting civilian gatherings and police checkpoints across Gaza, Palestine Online said.
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 matter.
“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 said he had instructed the Israeli military to expand its control of Gaza from 60 percent to 70 percent.
He said the military had controlled 50 percent of Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire, adding: “My directive is to move to… 70 percent”.
The transition to the second phase of the October 2025 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been stalled for months.
Under the agreement, Israeli occupation forces were to pull back behind the so-called “yellow line”, a demarcation between the area under Hamas control and the area held by the Israeli army.
Netanyahu had announced on May 15 that the Israeli army had expanded its occupation of the Gaza Strip.
“There were those who said: get out, get out. We did not get out. Today we control… how much? 60 percent. Tomorrow we shall see,” he said at the time.
Qassem said Hamas has maintained from the beginning that it will not be part of governance arrangements after the war in Gaza ends.
“There has been a clear position from Hamas from the beginning that it will not be part of the governance arrangements on the day after the war on the Gaza Strip ends. Hamas will not be in the governance of the Gaza Strip, and it is fully and completely ready to hand over governance to the independent national committee.”
Qassem called on mediators to take a clear and decisive position toward what he described as escalating Israeli violations, urging Board of Peace representative Mladenov not to remain silent.
He also called on the Board of Peace to compel Israel to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement and halt measures he said threaten the future of calm in the Gaza Strip.
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