Israeli troops will remain in the security zones created in Gaza even after any agreement to end the war, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday, while efforts to reactivate a ceasefire agreement failed.
Since the resumption of military operations last month, Israeli forces have created a wide “safety zone” that extends to the interior of Gaza and pushes more than 2 million Palestinians for smaller and smaller areas in the south and along the coast.
“Unlike the past, Israel’s defense forces (IDF) are not evacuating areas that have been cleaned and taken,” Katz said in a statement after a meeting with military commanders.
“IDF will remain in security zones as a barrier between enemy and communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza – such as Lebanon and Syria.”
In a summary of its operations last month, the Israeli army said it now controls 30% of Palestinian territory.
In southern Gaza, the Israeli forces took the city of Rafah and advanced inland to the so -called “Morag corridor”, from the extreme east of Gaza to the Mediterranean Sea, between Rafah and the city of Khan Youis.
The region has already maintained a large corridor through the central area of Netzarim and extended a protection zone around the border by hundreds from meters to the interior, including the area of Shejaia, east of the city of Gaza, in the north.
Israel states that their forces have killed hundreds of Hamas combatants, including many senior commanders of the Palestinian militant group, since March 18, but the operation alarmed the United Nations and the European countries.
More than 400,000 Palestinians were displaced since the restart of hostilities on March 18, after two months of “calm”, according to the UN OCHA Humanitarian agency, and Israeli aerial attacks killed at least 1,630 people.
The MSF humanitarian organization stated that Gaza has become a “common ditch” with humanitarian groups struggling to provide help.
“We are witnessing in real time the destruction and forced displacement of the entire population in Gaza,” MSF’s emergency coordinator in Gaza said in a statement.
Katz said Israel, which blocked the delivery of emergency supplies to the territory since early March, was creating infrastructure to allow distribution through civil companies, but that the block would remain in force.
He said that Israel would seek a plan to allow the residents of Gaza to leave the enclave, although it is still unclear which countries would be willing to accept a large number of Palestinians.
Red lines
Katz’s comments, repeating Israel’s requirement to Hamas to disarm, emphasize how far the sides remain from a ceasefire agreement, despite the efforts of the Egyptian mediators to resume initiatives for an agreement.
Hamas repeatedly described the appeals to disarmament as a red line that will not cross and stated that Israeli troops should withdraw from Gaza under any permanent ceasefire.
“Any truce without real guarantees to interrupt the war, reach the total withdrawal, suspend the blockade and start reconstruction will be a political trap,” Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday.
Two Israeli authorities said this week that there was no progress in negotiations, despite media reports about a possible truce to allow the exchange of some of the 59 hostages still kept in Gaza by Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli authorities said that increased military pressure will force Hamas to release hostages, but the government has faced major manifestations from Israeli demanding an agreement to interrupt fighting and recover them.
Israel launched his war in Gaza in response to Hamas’s attack south of Israel in October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and hostage, according to Israeli data.
The offensive killed at least 51,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and devastated the coastal enclave, forcing most of the population to move several times and reducing large areas to rubble.
On Wednesday, Palestinian medical authorities reported that Israeli military attacks throughout the Gaza range killed at least 35 Palestinians. An air strike killed 10 people, including Fatema Hassouna, a well -known writer and photographer who had documented the war.
Another air strike to a camp in Khan Youis, south of the enclave, killed at least 10 other people, doctors said. The others were killed in separated military attacks in other areas.
The Gaza Ministry of Health, administered by Hamas, said the Israeli suspension of fuel entry, medical supplies and food began to obstruct the work of the few hospitals in operation, with the stock of medical supplies running out.
“Hundreds of patients and injured are deprived of essential medicines, and their suffering is worsening due to the closure of border tickets,” the ministry said.
This content was originally published in Israel will maintain a tampon zone in Gaza, says minister, as a stagnate truce on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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