Israel Controls Over 50% Gaza Territory, Expands Buffer Zone

Israel has now expanded its control over 50% of the territory of Gaza after relaunching its invasion last month. The attack began in the name of pressuring Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken during October 7th. The land now seized by the Israeli military includes a corridor that divides the territory’s north from south, which could be used for wielding long-term control, the human rights groups and Gaza experts have said.

Moreover, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu too had said last week that even after Hamas is defeated, Israel will keep security control in Gaza and will push Palestinians to leave.

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Further, the Israeli military had already set up a significant buffer zone within Gaza, expanding areas that existed around the edges of the enclave before the war, and added a large area in the so-called Netzarim Corridor through the middle of the territory. While speaking to AP, four soldiers spoke on condition of anonymity and said that they have destroyed everything they could and shot everything that was functioning, and have made the region look like they have nothing to come back to.

As per the report, The Perimeter, which has documented testimonies of soldiers, stated that the soldiers involved in the scrutiny have watched the army turn a once well-flourished region into a vast wasteland.

“Through widespread, deliberate destruction, the military laid the groundwork for future Israeli control of the area,” said the group.

During the beginning stage of the war, the Israeli occupation force had forced the Palestinians living near the borders out and destroyed the land to create a buffer zone more than a kilometre deep, as per the Breaking the Silence report. When Israel had resumed the war last month, they have now doubled the size of the buffer zone by expanding it to 3 kilometres into Gaza in some places.

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As per the account of the soldiers, they have confessed that the buffer zones were a ‘kill zone’. They stated that any Palestinian who entered the area, which had no specific boundaries marked, was shot instantly. “Anyone who came within 500 meters of the tank would be shot, including women and children,” they said.