What’s the Philadelphi Corridor border zone that Israel wants to control?
Al Jazeera
Israeli control over the corridor between Gaza and Egypt would mean a de facto full reoccupation of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has said it wants to take control of the entirety of the border area between Gaza and Egypt as it signals that its brutal war on Gaza is nowhere near the end.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a weekly news conference on Saturday that the Philadelphi Corridor “must be in our hands” and shut down to ensure the security outcome Tel Aviv desires.
Israel’s war on the besieged enclave has killed more than 21,000 Palestinians. With the fighting now in its 13th week, what is the significance of the corridor, why does Israel want control and what could be the implications?
The Philadelphi Corridor, also known as the Philadelphi Route, is the 14km (8.7-mile) long strip of land that represents the entirety of the border area between Gaza and Egypt.
It was established as a buffer zone controlled and patrolled by Israeli armed forces as part of the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt that ended Israel’s occupation of the Sinai Peninsula and reopened the Suez Canal.
