Israel has dramatically expanded its footprint in the Gaza Strip since relaunching its war against Hamas last month. It now controls more than 50 per cent of the territory and is squeezing Palestinians into shrinking wedges of land, The Associated Press reports.

It cited a report by Breaking The Silence, an anti-occupation veterans group, as saying that Israeli troops forced Palestinians from communities near the border and destroyed the land to create a buffer zone more than a kilometre deep.

Its troops also seized a swath of land across Gaza known as the Netzarim Corridor that isolated the north, including Gaza City, from the rest of the narrow strip.

When Israel resumed its war on Gaza last month, it doubled the size of the buffer zone, pushing it as far as 3km into Gaza in some places, according to a map issued by the military, the AP added.

The buffer zone and the Netzarim Corridor make up at least 50pc of the strip, Yaakov Garb, a professor of environmental studies at Ben Gurion University, was quoted as saying.