Israel said today that it will not withdraw from the Philadelphia Corridor, a 14-kilometer buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt, despite the departure of its military being stipulated in the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
"We will not leave the Philadelphia corridor," said a statement released to Israeli and international media by a senior Israeli official.
"We will not allow Hamas killers to once again drive across our borders with trucks and weapons, and we will not allow them to regain strength through smuggling," he added.
According to documents that the EFE news agency had access to, Israel was supposed to begin withdrawing its troops on the last day of the first phase of the ceasefire -- that is, on the 42nd. second day, which will be on Saturday - and completely leave the corridor before the 50th day of the truce.
The Philadelphia corridor was one of the most contested points between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas during the ceasefire negotiations, with the Israeli delegation demanding to remain there for months.
The truce between Israel and Hamas was negotiated by three countries --- Qatar, Egypt and the United States --- and came into effect on January 19 in the Gaza Strip.
"The Philadelphia corridor will not be evacuated. If Israel loses control, Gaza will become a kingdom of terrorism," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a news conference in September, adding that the corridor had become Hamas's "oxygen pipe" through which the group rearmed.
The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is located in this corridor and was reopened on February 1 - after months of closure by Israel due to the war - to allow the transfer of sick and injured Gaza residents to the neighboring country.
Israel's announcement comes two days before the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, with neither Hamas nor Israeli officials announcing any progress in negotiations for the second phase, which are due to begin on Sunday and lead to a "sustainable" end to hostilities in Gaza.
Senior Israeli officials, quoted by local media, say that Netanyahu's government intends to extend the first phase of the truce - which would allow it to continue the attacks it carries out daily in the Strip and the military presence in the border buffer zone - rather than moving on to the second phase of the ceasefire.
The war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip began after the Palestinian Islamist group's attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, which left more than 1,200 dead. In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military offensive has already caused more than 48,000 Palestinian deaths.
No comments:
Post a Comment