Israel maintains a significant military footprint in Gaza more than a year after the October 2025 U.S.-brokered ceasefire, controlling approximately 65 percent of the territory along an expanded “Yellow Line” while constructing over 30 outposts and conducting targeted strikes on Hamas infrastructure. Recent weeks have seen incremental boundary advances, demolitions, and airstrikes in areas like Gaza City and Deir al-Balah, alongside stalled implementation of the truce’s second phase involving Hamas disarmament and a technocratic administration. Israeli elections scheduled for late October 2026 add political uncertainty, as ongoing operations to degrade militant capabilities continue without triggering a full-scale ground campaign. Trader assessments reflect these dynamics, weighing persistent low-level engagements and territorial consolidation against the absence of conditions for a major new offensive in the near term.