Israel has occupied nearly 1,000 square kilometers of territory in the Middle East ever since October 2023, as part of a new military strategy adopted by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after an attack by the Palestinian Hamas movement, the Financial Times (FT) reports.

According to the FT’s calculations, Israeli forces have taken control of territories in the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon and Syria, which make up about 5% of Israel's territory along its 1949 borders.

The FT notes that more than half of the Israeli-occupied territories are in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops have created a so-called security zone to contain the Shiite organization Hezbollah. The rest of the Israeli-occupied territories are in the Gaza Strip and Syria.

According to the FT, the Israeli army controls more than half of the territory of Gaza, and has also created additional buffer zones. As a result, the approximately 2 million inhabitants of this Palestinian enclave are concentrated in approximately 40% of the pre-war area of the territory.

The FT notes that Israel's new strategy has received support from far-right circles within the country, but has led to massive destruction and increased tensions in the Middle East.

Source: https://news.am/en/news/1036490