Israel Controls Over 50% Of Gaza, Squeezing Palestinians On Their Own Land | rssama.com

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel has dramatically expanded its footprint successful nan Gaza Strip since relaunching its warfare against Hamas past month. It now controls much than 50% of nan territory and is squeezing Palestinians into shrinking wedges of land.

The largest contiguous area nan service controls is astir nan Gaza border, wherever nan subject has razed Palestinian homes, farmland and infrastructure to nan constituent of uninhabitability, according to Israeli soldiers and authorities groups. This subject buffer area has doubled successful size successful caller weeks.

Israel has depicted its tightening grip arsenic a temporary necessity to unit Hamas into releasing nan remaining hostages taken during nan Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught that started nan war. But nan onshore Israel holds, which includes a corridor that divides nan territory’s northbound from south, could beryllium utilized for wielding semipermanent control, quality authorities groups and Gaza experts say.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said past week that moreover aft Hamas is defeated, Israel will support information power successful Gaza and push Palestinians to leave.

Smoke rises from Israeli strikes successful Gaza arsenic seen from confederate Israel, connected Monday, April 7, 2025.

Leo Correa via Associated Press

The demolition adjacent to nan Israeli separator and nan systematic description of nan buffer area has been going connected since nan warfare began 18 months ago, 5 Israeli soldiers told The Associated Press.

“They destroyed everything they could, they changeable everything that looks functioning ... (the Palestinians) will person thing to travel back, they will not travel back, never,” a worker deployed pinch a vessel squad guarding nan demolition teams said. He and 4 different soldiers said to nan AP connected information of anonymity for fearfulness of reprisals.

A report documenting nan accounts of soldiers who were successful nan buffer area was released Monday by Breaking The Silence, an anti-occupation veterans group. A fistful of soldiers ― including immoderate who besides said to AP ― described watching nan service move nan area into a immense wasteland.

“Through widespread, deliberate destruction, nan subject laid nan groundwork for early Israeli power of nan area,” said nan group.

Asked astir nan soldiers’ accounts, nan Israeli service said it is acting to protect its state and particularly to amended information successful confederate communities devastated by nan Oct. 7 attack, successful which immoderate 1,200 group were killed and 251 taken hostage. The service said it does not activity to harm civilians successful Gaza, and that it abides by world law.

Carving Gaza into sections

An infographic shows Gaza City's Shujaiya area and nan Israeli army's expanding buffer area wrong Gaza.

Omar Kamal, Nalini LePetit-Chella, Julie Pereira/AFP via Getty Images

In nan early days of nan war, Israeli troops forced Palestinians from communities adjacent nan separator and destroyed nan onshore to create a buffer area much than a kilometer (0.62 miles) deep, according to Breaking The Silence.

Its troops besides seized a swath of onshore crossed Gaza known arsenic the Netzarim Corridor that isolated nan north, including Gaza City, from nan remainder of nan narrow, coastal strip, location to much than 2 cardinal people.

When Israel resumed nan warfare past month, it doubled nan size of nan buffer zone, pushing it arsenic acold arsenic 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) into Gaza successful immoderate places, according to a representation issued by nan military.

The buffer area and nan Netzarim Corridor dress up astatine slightest 50% of nan strip, said Yaakov Garb, a professor of biology studies astatine Ben Gurion University, who has been examining Israeli-Palestinian onshore usage patterns for decades.

Last week, Netanyahu said Israel intends to create different corridor that slices crossed confederate Gaza, cutting disconnected nan metropolis of Rafah from nan remainder of nan territory. Israel’s power of Gaza is moreover greater taking into relationship areas wherever it precocious ordered civilians to evacuate up of planned attacks.

Neighborhoods turned into rubble

Palestinian Nidal Alzaanin provides a photograph of his greenhouse destroyed by Israel successful Beit Hanoun, Gaza, successful March 2025.

Nidal Alzaanin via Associated Press

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians utilized to unrecorded successful nan onshore that now makes up Israel’s buffer zone, an area that was cardinal to Gaza’s cultivation output.

Satellite images show once-dense neighborhoods turned to rubble, arsenic good arsenic astir a twelve caller Israeli service outposts since nan ceasefire ended.

When nan ceasefire was announced successful January, Nidal Alzaanin went backmost to his location successful Beit Hanoun successful bluish Gaza. His spot stood connected nan separator of nan buffer area and laic successful ruins.

All that remains is simply a photograph of him and his woman connected their wedding day, a drafting of his son’s look connected a porcelain sheet and nan star of a 150-year-old sycamore character planted by his great-grandfather. His greenhouse was reduced to twisted scraps of metal.

The 55-year-old husbandman sounded a shelter successful nan rubble, hoping to rebuild his life. But erstwhile Israel resumed its run and seized his land, he was again uprooted.

“It took 20 years to build a location and wrong 5 minutes they destroyed each my dreams and my children’s dreams,” he said from Gaza City, wherever he now shelters.

Israel’s bombardment and crushed offensives passim nan warfare person near immense swaths of Gaza’s cities and towns destroyed. But nan razing of spot wrong nan buffer area has been much methodical and extensive, soldiers said.

The 5 soldiers who said to nan AP said Israeli troops were ordered to destruct farmland, irrigation pipes, crops and trees arsenic good arsenic thousands of buildings, including residential and nationalist structures, truthful that militants had obscurity to hide.

Several soldiers said their units demolished much buildings than they could count, including ample business complexes. A soda mill was leveled, leaving shards of solid and star panels strewn connected nan ground.

Soldier alleges buffer area was a ‘kill’ zone

Israeli troops and tanks are deployed adjacent to nan Gaza separator connected April 3, 2025. The Gaza Health Ministry said that much than a 1000 group person been killed successful nan Palestinian territory since Israel resumed large-scale strikes successful March.

Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images

The soldiers said nan buffer area had nary marked boundaries, but that Palestinians who entered were changeable at.

The worker pinch nan vessel squad said an armored bulldozer flattened onshore creating a “kill zone” and that anyone who came wrong 500 meters of nan tanks would beryllium shot, including women and children.

Visibly shaken, he said galore of nan soldiers acted retired of vengeance for nan Oct. 7 attack.

“I came location because they termination america and now we’re going to termination them. And I recovered retired that we’re not only sidesplitting them. We’re sidesplitting them, we’re sidesplitting their wives, their children, their cats, their dogs, and we destroyed their houses,” he said.

The service said its attacks are based connected intelligence and that it avoids “as overmuch arsenic possible, harm to non-combatants.”

Long-term hold?

Protesters and families of Hamas' hostages marched against nan warfare successful Gaza, successful Tel Aviv, connected April 6, 2025. Israelis demonstrated against nan government's violations of populist and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is accused of corruption.

Yael Guisky Abas/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

It is unclear really agelong Israel intends to clasp nan buffer area and different territory wrong Gaza.

In announcing nan caller corridor crossed confederate Gaza, Netanyahu said Israel intends to unit Hamas to merchandise nan remaining 59 hostages, of whom 35 are believed dead. He besides said nan warfare tin only extremity erstwhile Hamas is destroyed and its leaders time off Gaza, astatine which constituent Israel would return power of information successful nan territory.

Then, Netanyahu said, Israel would instrumentality U.S. President Donald Trump’s telephone to move Palestinians from Gaza, what Israel calls “voluntary emigration.”

Some Israel analysts opportunity nan intent of nan buffer area isn’t to inhabit Gaza, but to unafraid it until Hamas is dismantled. “This is thing that immoderate sane state will do pinch respect to its borders erstwhile nan authorities borders a dispute entity,” said Kobi Michael, a elder interrogator astatine 2 Israeli deliberation tanks, nan Institute for National Security Studies and nan Misgav Institute.

But authorities groups opportunity forcibly displacing group is simply a imaginable warfare crime and a crime against humanity. Within Gaza’s buffer zones, specifically, it amounts to “ethnic cleansing,” because it was clear group would ne'er beryllium allowed to return, said Nadia Hardman, a interrogator astatine Human Rights Watch.

Israel called nan accusations baseless and said it evacuates civilians from combat areas to protect them.

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Associated Press newsman Michael Biesecker contributed from Washington.