Digging in, IDF builds dozens of bases in and around expanded Netzarim Corridor – NYT
Report says satellite images and video footage indicate the military has demolished around 600 buildings in last 3 months to create a buffer zone around the central Gaza corridor
The IDF has significantly bolstered its presence in the central Gaza Strip in recent months, and the territory controlled by Israel in and around the so-called Netzarim corridor has rapidly expanded, according to a report Monday, in an apparent indication the IDF is preparing to remain inside the Palestinian enclave for at least the foreseeable future.
By analyzing satellite images and video footage, the New York Times reported that Israeli forces have also constructed several dozen new bases in and around the corridor over the last three months.
The Netzarim Corridor, which started as a four-mile strip of land, is built around a road south of Gaza City, enabling the IDF to carry out raids in northern and central Gaza while controlling access to the north for Palestinians seeking to return after fleeing south. It also enables Israel to coordinate deliveries of humanitarian aid directly to northern Gaza.
In recent months, however, the corridor has significantly expanded, reaching as far as the outskirts of Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood to the north, and the Wadi Gaza stream to the south, encompassing around 47 square kilometers (18 square miles) of land.
The IDF has attempted to create what appears to be a buffer zone around the outskirts of the military-controlled block of land, the report said, and in doing so, has demolished around 600 buildings, residential and otherwise, over the last three months.
The Times said that the estimation was reached by analyzing satellite images and video footage taken by the IDF’s Combat Engineering Battalion between September 3 and November 21.
Troops have also “rapidly expanded a network of outposts equipped with communications towers and defensive fortifications,” the report said.
The IDF’s expansion work “suggests that it may be preparing to exert long-term control over the area,” The Times said.
An IDF spokesman told the newspaper that the buildings were demolished in order to prevent Hamas operatives from using them as lookout points, or as a place to hide ahead of launching attacks on Israeli forces.
Inside the expanded Netzarim Corridor area, additional satellite images analyzed by the Times found that the IDF has been building at a rapid pace, having either constructed or expanded the existing infrastructure of 12 military bases since early September.
In total, the report said, the IDF has constructed at least 19 large military bases and dozens of smaller ones in the area surrounding the Netzarim Corridor since the start of the war against Hamas last October.
The satellite images revealed extensive fortifications surrounding the bases, many of which the news outlet said were walled off, with access roads and parking spaces for armored vehicles.
Some also have communications towers, it added, and the largest of the bases is attached to a checkpoint.
Despite the rapid expansion of Israeli infrastructure, an IDF spokesman seemed to reject the notion that the military was preparing for a permanent presence in the enclave, telling the Times that “anything that has been built [in the Netzarim Corridor] can be taken down within a day.”
Some Israeli government lawmakers have become increasingly vocal in recent weeks, however, about their desire to reestablish Jewish settlements inside the Gaza Strip for the first time in almost two decades.
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 under the Disengagement Plan, uprooting some 9,000 people and demolishing 21 settlements.
To that end, the report noted that the site of the former Israeli settlement of Netzarim, for which the corridor is named, now lies entirely within the boundaries of the Israeli-controlled territory.
Last week, Housing and Construction Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf inspected the Strip with Daniella Weiss, the head of the Nachala Settlement Movement, to locate sites for potential settlement construction.
Then, on Sunday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who leads the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party, told Army Radio that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was showing “some openness” to the idea of “encouraging migration” of Palestinians from Gaza.
The idea has been touted for the better part of the last year by Ben Gvir and fellow far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said last month that Israel should occupy Gaza and “encourage” half of the Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinians to emigrate within two years.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said such actions are not the goal of the war, nor are they on the agenda, but has faced criticism from opponents who have accused him of failing to exert control over the government and allowing himself to be swayed by some of its most extreme members.
The war between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7, 2023, when the Gaza terror group killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized 251 hostages during an invasion of dozens of southern Israel communities.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that more than 44,000 people have been killed in more than 13 months of war, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Much of the Strip has been rendered unrecognizable by the months of war, and as of July of this year, the IDF assessed that some 1.9 million Palestinians were residing in the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone.”
The zone is located in the al-Mawasi area on the southern Strip’s coast, western neighborhoods of Khan Younis, and central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. The size of the zone has changed multiple times, amid evolving IDF operations against Hamas.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
