Palestinians return to eastern part of Netzarim as IDF leaves the entire central Gaza corridor
Sources in the Strip confirm troops fully pull out of key buffer zone, though military does not immediately comment
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Israeli forces withdrew from the entire Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip overnight Saturday-Sunday, in accordance with the ceasefire-hostage deal with the Hamas terror organization, sources in the enclave confirmed.
After the forces pulled out of the axis, which bisects the Strip south of Gaza City, Palestinians were seen returning to the areas that had been controlled by the Israel Defense Forces since the early days of the ground invasion of the enclave.
The IDF did not immediately comment on the withdrawal.
According to the outline of the agreement, on day 21 of the ceasefire, Israel was required to withdraw from the entire corridor and only maintain a presence in a buffer zone of up to around one kilometer along Gaza’s border with Israel.
Israeli forces are still deployed to the Philadelphi Corridor, the Egypt-Gaza border area. Under the deal, on day 50 of the ceasefire, Israel will need to complete its withdrawal from Philadelphi.
An official from Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry told AFP that “Israeli forces have dismantled their positions and military posts and completely withdrawn their tanks from the Netzarim Corridor on Salah a-Din Road, allowing vehicles to pass freely in both directions.”
#فيديو | مشاهد أولية من محور "نتساريم" وسط قطاع غزة بعد انسحاب قوات الاحتلال صباح اليوم. pic.twitter.com/Btmvho9h7i
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) February 9, 2025
An AFP journalist at the scene reported there were no Israeli troops present on the entire corridor.
Asked about Sunday’s withdrawal, an Israeli security official who requested anonymity told AFP: “We are preparing to implement the ceasefire agreement according to the guidelines of the political echelon.”
AFP journalists reported cars, buses, pickup trucks and even donkey carts were seen traveling on Salah a-Din road from both the north and south.
انسحاب جيش الاحتلال من محور "نتساريم" وسط قطاع غزة، وذلك في إطار اتفاق وقف إطلاق النار. pic.twitter.com/BFms5ZgGqG
— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) February 9, 2025
Israeli forces withdrew from their positions in the western portion of the Netzarim Corridor nearly two weeks ago, as Israel allowed displaced Gazans to return to the Strip’s north on foot via the coastal road and by vehicles on the Salah a-Din road; however, movement from north to south was restricted.
With Sunday’s withdrawal, those in the north can now also cross the corridor heading south by vehicle.
When the western Netzarim corridor was first reopened to foot and car traffic in January, the UN’s humanitarian body OCHA said that over 370,000 displaced Palestinians returned to northern Gaza in the first two days after the IDF’s withdrawal.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led thousands of terrorists in an invasion of southern Israel in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were massacred. Terrorists also abducted 251 people of all ages as hostages to Gaza.
Israel responded with a military campaign to destroy Hamas and rescue the hostages. The fighting was more intense in northern Gaza than anywhere else in the enclave and civilians there were repeatedly ordered to evacuate combat areas by leaving for the south, where the IDF set up a humanitarian zone.
At the start of Israel’s ground offensive against Hamas in late October 2023, the Netzarim Corridor was just tracks left by IDF vehicles, but over the following months, the military established a four-mile road running east-west along the corridor, as part of efforts to block Palestinians seeking to return to northern Gaza after fleeing south.
The road along the corridor was eventually paved and the surrounding area turned into a buffer zone to secure the thoroughfare from Hamas attacks.
As time went on, the IDF expanded the buffer zone, from just a few dozen meters on each side of the road to encompassing around 47 square kilometers (18 square miles) of land, or around 13 percent of the Strip’s total territory.
Hundreds of buildings were destroyed in the process, wiping out Palestinian villages in the area. The IDF has argued that it was necessary to demolish the buildings to adequately secure the corridor, as Hamas was using the structures to launch attacks on troops.
In the buffer zone, the IDF established more than a dozen small military outposts and at least four forward operating bases, building infrastructure such as water lines and internet towers. Still, IDF officials insisted that all the infrastructure in the corridor was temporary and could be removed at short notice.
In accordance with the ceasefire agreement, the IDF was to withdraw from all its positions in the corridor, allowing free movement of Palestinians to northern Gaza — one of Hamas’s key demands during hostage deal negotiations.
The terror group has so far released 16 hostages — civilians, soldiers, and five Thai nationals — during the ceasefire, which began in January, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including many terror convicts. It has also released five Thai hostages in a side deal.
Hamas freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued alive by troops, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.
