31-12-2023 (GAZA) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that the border region between Gaza and Egypt should be under Israeli control, predicting that conflicts in Palestinian enclaves and other frontline areas will persist for several months.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday (December 30), Netanyahu argued that Israel must control the “Philadelphia Corridor” along the Gaza-Egypt border to ensure the demilitarization of Gaza after the conflict.
The ongoing battles in the Gaza Strip, as reported by Reuters and Xinhua, have seen Israel making significant gains on multiple fronts, albeit at a heavy cost. The government’s policy is clear: to continue the fight until the elimination of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the release of all detained Israelis.
Addressing the conflict with Lebanon, Netanyahu stated that the Israeli military is launching a fierce assault on the Hezbollah in Lebanon and has approved plans to continue military operations. In a rare move, he also threatened direct attacks on Iran due to daily border clashes between Israel and Lebanon.
“If the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah continues to escalate the conflict, it will face unprecedented strikes, just like Iran,” Netanyahu asserted. The “Philadelphia Corridor” refers to a 14-kilometer narrow strip along the Gaza-Egypt border. According to the peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979, this strip was designated as a buffer zone to be controlled and patrolled by the Israeli military. After Hamas gained control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, the group took control of this buffer zone.
Israeli media reports indicate that Israel is attempting to regain control of the “Philadelphia Corridor” to prevent weapons smuggling into Gaza and to block Hamas leaders from using the corridor to enter Egypt. To achieve this, Israel is planning to construct an underground containment wall in the corridor.
