JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he has issued a directive to increase the Israeli military's control over the Gaza Strip from 60 percent to 70 percent of the territory.

Speaking at a conference in the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, Netanyahu said that Israel was in control of 50 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip, and moved to 60 percent.

Netanyahu then asked what the next target is. Some of the attendees chanted "100 percent", and Netanyahu said, "Go in order, first 70 percent, we'll start with that. We're grasping Hamas tightly from all sides, and we'll then deal with the remains."

Netanyahu added that Israel is in a process where it can leverage its power in many directions, and still has to crush Hezbollah.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said in a statement that it killed the head of a central Hamas funds transfer network, Ihab Khrizim, in a strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.

Israel breaks all contact with UN chief

On social media platform X, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel will "have no further contact" with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, after his country was blacklisted by the UN alongside Hamas and other armed groups.

"We're done with this Secretary-General," Danon said.

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Israeli entities have been included on a UN blacklist over accusations of sexual violence in conflict zones.

EU sanctions Israeli extremist settler-linked entities, individuals

Also on Thursday, the Council of the European Union said the EU has adopted restrictive measures on Israeli extremist settler-linked entities and individuals over serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Council said in a statement that the designations target four entities and three individuals, including extremist Israeli settlers and organizations that support them.

Among those listed is Daniella Weiss, director of the Nachala Settlement Movement, which the Council said encourages and facilitates coercive acts leading to the forced displacement of Palestinians.

The Council said the listed organizations and individuals have contributed to violence in the West Bank through activities including establishing or supporting settlement outposts, lobbying for the demolition of Palestinian property, leading to the forced displacement of Palestinian communities and the dispossession of Palestinian property.

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In a separate statement on Thursday, the Council said the EU has also expanded the scope of its restrictive measures regarding the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to also target 10 members of the Political Bureau of Hamas.