Israel has effectively extended its grip over the entire land border of the Gaza Strip after its army said it had “established operational control” of a strategically important buffer zone that separates the enclave from Egypt.
The 15-kilometre-wide corridor, which the Israeli military refers to by a code name – “Philadelphia Corridor” – was until Wednesday the only land border in Gaza that Israel did not directly control. It comes as Israel intensified its attack on Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah, killing dozens of Palestinians.
“The Philadelphia corridor served as an oxygen channel for Hamas, which it regularly used to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip area,” said Israel’s chief military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, during a press briefing, referring to the militant group Israel has used in the past. eight months of trying to destroy for its attacks of October 7.
Hagari did not specify what the Israeli military meant by “operational control.” Egyptian state broadcaster Al-Qahera News reported that Israeli claims that they had discovered 20 Hamas tunnels in the corridor were false.
The corridor that Israel has seized has long been intended to be a demilitarized zone between Gaza and Egypt. Hamas has controlled it since taking control of the seaside strip in 2007. It has built tunnels, some wide enough to allow the smuggling of vehicles and commercial construction materials, to circumvent the blockade imposed by Israel and the Egypt. Israeli officials also claimed that Hamas used the tunnels to smuggle in weapons used in its October 7 attacks in southern Israel.
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A recent investigation by the Middle East Eye news agency, citing secret military documents, revealed that Egyptian military engineers have destroyed more than 2,000 tunnels linking Gaza to Egypt since 2011.
Egypt has been battling local militants aligned with the Islamic State group on its side of the border for more than a decade. At one point, according to MEE’s investigation, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered his armed forces to conduct a feasibility study on a proposal to dig a canal along the entire border with Gaza.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday that Israel’s seizure of the Philadelphia Corridor is consistent with what Israeli officials have briefed President Joe Biden’s team about their plans of “limited” operation in Rafah. “It involved moving along that corridor,” Kirby said.
Separately, national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, a senior Israeli official close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Israeli media on Wednesday that Israel’s war against Hamas could continue until the end of the year.
“We could have another seven months of fighting to consolidate our success and achieve what we have defined as the destruction of Hamas’s power and military capabilities,” Hanegbi said.
Negotiations aimed at a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the return of hostages held by Hamas appear to have stalled. These discussions took place via Egyptian, Qatari and American mediators.
News Source : www.usatoday.com
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