IDF says it already controls 40% of Gaza City ahead of main offensive

By Stav Levaton

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4 September 2025, 8:25 pm

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Stav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel

A picture shows a view of a makeshift displacement camp at the Yarmuk Sports Stadium, once a football arena, as smoke billows during Israeli strikes on Gaza City on September 4, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says the military currently controls about 40% of Gaza City as it presses ahead with plans to fully capture the city, noting that Israeli forces are nearing control of half its territory.

Israel declared Gaza City, in the north of the territory, a combat zone last week. Parts of the city are already considered “red zones,” where Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate ahead of expected heavy fighting.

Defrin also rejects reports that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir opposes the operation, saying Zamir fully supports the plan to seize Gaza City. He adds that Zamir has made clear that if no alternative framework emerges for the “day after the war,” Israel will establish a military government in the Gaza Strip.