LONDON, May 19. /TASS/. Israel has occupied about 1,000 square kilometers of Middle Eastern territory as part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new military strategy in response to the 2023 Hamas attack, The Financial Times reported.

According to the newspaper, the Israeli army has seized territories in the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon, and Syria. This amounts to about 5% of Israel within its 1949 borders. The Financial Times noted that nearly half of the occupied territory is in southern Lebanon, where Israeli servicemen have established a security zone to deter the Shia group Hezbollah. The rest of the territory is in the Gaza Strip and Syria. According to the newspaper, Israeli forces control over half of the Gaza Strip, creating additional buffer zones. As a result, nearly two million Gaza residents now inhabit only 40% of the Palestinian enclave's pre-war territory.

The Financial Times emphasized that, although Israel’s new strategy has been supported by ultra-Orthodox circles in the country, it has caused massive destruction and escalated tensions in the Middle East.