By JOSEPH KRAUSS
Israel’s refusal to withdraw from a narrow strip of desert on the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, as called for in the ceasefire with Hamas, could further threaten the fragile truce.
An Israeli official said Thursday that Israeli forces would remain in the so-called Philadelphi corridor to prevent weapons smuggling. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Under the ceasefire agreement reached last month, Israel was to begin withdrawing on Saturday and complete the pullout within eight days. Hamas said any attempt to preserve the corridor as a buffer zone would be a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire agreement. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
There was no immediate comment from Egypt, a key mediator that is also opposed to any Israeli presence on the Gaza side of the border.
Saturday is also the final day of the first phase of the ceasefire. Negotiations have yet to begin on the second and more difficult phase, in which Hamas is to release dozens of remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting truce. The war could resume if an agreement is not reached.
Here’s a look at the Philadelphi corridor and why it las long been a source of tension.
The Philadelphi corridor is an empty strip — only 100 meters (yards) wide in some places — that runs the 14-kilometer (8.6-mile) length of Gaza’s border with Egypt.
It includes the Rafah crossing, which was Gaza’s only outlet to the outside world not controlled by Israel until the Israeli army captured the entire corridor last May.
At a September news conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas had been using tunnels under the border to import arms and was trying to rebuild the military machine it unleashed on Israel in its Oct. 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.
However, Israeli media reported in September that the tunnels had not been used for years. Israel’s Haaretz news outlet, citing military officials, said Israeli troops had found nine tunnels running under the Philadelphi corridor, all sealed from the Egyptian side since Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi came to power in 2013 and launched a campaign to destroy tunnels.
It said the army believes most weapons in Gaza were produced locally, using some materials smuggled through the Rafah crossing and the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, which is controlled by Israel. that the tunnels had not been used for years. Israel’s Haaretz news outlet, citing military officials, said Israeli troops had found nine tunnels running under the Philadelphi corridor, all sealed from the Egyptian side since Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi came to power in 2013 and launched a campaign to destroy tunnels.
It said the army believes most weapons in Gaza were produced locally, some using materials smuggled through the Rafah crossing and the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, which is controlled by Israel.
On Thursday. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had seen unblocked tunnels between Gaza and Egypt during a recent visit to the corridor, without providing evidence.
Egypt has denied the Israeli allegations, saying it destroyed hundreds of tunnels on its side of the border years ago and set up a military buffer zone that prevents smuggling.
In January, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and the phased release of hostages, pausing 15 months of war.
Under the first phase, Hamas has freed 25 living Israeli hostages and returned the bodies of eight more, in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israeli forces have pulled back from most areas and there has been a surge in humanitarian aid.
In the second phase, Hamas was to release the rest of the living hostages in exchange for more prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire. The third phase would see the exchange of remains and the start of Gaza’s daunting reconstruction.
Negotiations over the second phase were supposed to begin in early February, but so far only limited preparatory talks have been held.
Netanyahu says he remains committed to bringing back all the hostages and destroying the military and governing capabilities of Hamas. Those aims are likely incompatible, however, as Hamas still rules Gaza and has ordered its fighters to kill hostages if their rescue appears imminent.
The Trump administration has fully endorsed Israel’s war goals, but Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff says he hopes to reach the second phase of the ceasefire. He is expected to visit the region in the coming days.
Hamas is adamantly opposed to any lasting Israeli presence inside Gaza, which would be widely seen as a military occupation.
Israel captured Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for their own state. It withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but continued to control the territory’s airspace, its coastline and all of its border crossings except Rafah.
An Israeli decision to stay in the corridor could also further strain relations with Egypt, an American ally that has served as a key mediator with Hamas. Egypt has warned that it could undermine its nearly half century-old peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of American influence in the region.
The United States has not taken a position on control of the corridor, and U.S. President Donald Trump has not said how it might figure into his proposal for Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians to be relocated to other countries so the U.S. can redevelop the territory as a tourist destination.
Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed.
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