Aletho News

Israeli army razes 600 buildings in Gaza to build dozens of military bases, expand Netzarim Corridor

The Cradle | December 2, 2024

The Israeli army has been expanding its construction of military bases, outposts, and communication towers in the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, the New York Times (NYT) reported on 2 December.

The military has demolished over 600 buildings around the corridor in the past three months “in an apparent attempt to create a buffer zone,” the report states.

Satellite images reviewed by NYT showed the Israeli army has built at least 19 large bases throughout the area and dozens of small ones, suggesting plans for a long-term occupation.

“While some were built earlier in the war, the imagery also shows that the pace of construction appears to be accelerating: 12 of the bases were either built or expanded since early September,” NYT writes.

As a result of the construction, the corridor has slowly grown into a 46.6 square-kilometer military zone occupied by Israeli forces.

The paper said that control of the Netzarim Corridor, which cuts across Gaza from the border with Israel to the Mediterranean Sea, allows the army to “regulate” the movement of Palestinians.

The army’s control of the corridor allows Israel to prevent the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by Israeli bombing and ground operations from returning from the south of Gaza to their homes.

Israel has also constructed the Philadelphi Corridor, a buffer zone that divides Rafah in southern Gaza from Egypt, giving Israeli troops control of the Egypt border and crucial Rafah Crossing.

Israel is also creating another military corridor in the far north of Gaza, cutting off the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia from Gaza City in the center, according to satellite images studied by BBC Verify.

BBC reported that “Satellite images and videos show that hundreds of buildings have been demolished between the Mediterranean Sea and the Israel border, mostly through controlled explosions.”

Dr H.A. Hellyer, a West Asia security expert from the Rusi think tank, told BBC the Israeli army is “digging in for the long term. I would absolutely expect the north partition to develop exactly like the Netzarim Corridor.”

Construction of the new corridor in north Gaza starting in October corresponds with Israel’s implementation of the Generals’ Plan.

Under the strategy devised by former general Giora Eiland, the Israeli army issued orders for all Palestinians to leave northern Gaza, while those who are unable to or refuse to leave will be besieged, bombed, and starved.

Dr Hellyer suggested that the implementation of the Generals’ Plan would open the door to the permanent annexation of Gaza and the onset of Jewish settlement there relatively soon.

“Personally, I think they’re going to settle Jewish settlers in the north, probably in the next 18 months,” he said. “They won’t call them settlements. To begin with, they’ll call them outposts or whatever, but that’s what they’ll be, and they’ll grow from there.”

December 2, 2024 - Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | Gaza, Human rights, Israel, Palestine, Zionism