Philadelphi Corridor on Gaza-Egypt border to remain ‘buffer zone’: Israel

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that the Philadelphi Corridor on the border between Gaza and Egypt will remain a “buffer zone.”

“The Philadelphi Corridor will remain a buffer zone just like (Israel’s borders with) Lebanon and Syria,” Katz said in a statement carried by Israeli Channel 12.

Israel is scheduled to start withdrawing from the 14-kilometer (8.69-mile) corridor on Saturday under a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

An Israeli official, however, has confirmed that Tel Aviv will not withdraw from the corridor on Saturday.

“We will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor,” the public broadcaster KAN quoted the official as saying.

He said Israel will not allow Hamas “to again roam our borders with pickup trucks and guns, and we will not allow them to rearm through smuggling.”

The Israeli army captured the corridor during its destructive war on Gaza, which killed more than 48,300 people, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas on the Israeli statements which amount to a violation of the terms settled in the cease-fire agreement.

The Israeli war was brought to a halt under the cease-fire agreement, which took hold in Gaza on January 19.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.