In the years following the development of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, Israeli military control was ensured by constructing military roads through the territory, subjecting residents to checkpoints between population centers. Upon returning to Gaza following the October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel, security corridors were brought back on the Egyptian border and south of Gaza City.
“If you want to know what Israel’s future in Gaza is, you may not want to look further than the Netzarim Corridor,” New York Times reporter Aric Toler tweeted on Monday. “These are two massive checkpoints – which could control all future population flow from the south back into Gaza City – and new Israeli military infrastructure.”
With a team of colleagues, Toler relied on satellite images, Israeli military statements, and social media posts from Israeli and Palestinian individuals, to confirm that the Netzarim Corridor now covers 18 square miles with at least 19 bases along Route 749, the military road that runs from the Gaza border to the coast.
“The buildup suggests a shift for Israel, which had largely avoided holding Gazan territory,” the newspaper reported. The report is noted in context with statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nationalist coalition partners who seek to rebuild Jewish communities in Gaza.
Last week, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir suggested in a radio interview that Netanyahu is open to encouraging emigration of Gazans. In the same week, Housing and Construction Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf toured the Gaza border area with longtime activist Daniella Weiss of the Nachalah Settlement Movement. In the same month, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on the Amana organization for building on Palestinian land in Yehudah and Shomron.
Netzarim Corridor takes its name from a Jewish community south of Gaza City that was connected to the Nahal Oz border crossing by a single road. Netzarim was not connected by road to other Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. At its intersection with Gaza’s main north-south road, the army had a checkpoint to keep Palestinian vehicles away from Netzarim and stop terrorist suspects. During the second intifada, residents could enter and leave Netzarim only with a military escort. It was the last of the Gaza settlements to be evacuated in 2005, as its residents protested the disengagement that led to Hamas seizing power in the territory.
Responding to the build-up of Israeli structures in the corridor, military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said that anything that stands can be “taken down within a day.” But government spokesman Avi Dichter indicated that Israel was “going to stay in Gaza for a long time.”
On his visit to the Netzarim Corridor last month, Netanyahu spoke of achieving “excellent results toward our important objective: Hamas will not rule over Gaza.”
To preclude a permanent Israeli presence in Gaza, Hamas agreed last week to resume ceasefire talks with Egypt as a mediator, and proposed a power-sharing deal with Fatah, the internationally recognized Palestinian governing faction, to set up a nonpartisan committee to administer Gaza. Israel opposes any role for Hamas in the future governance of the territory.
The Biden administration opposes a return to permanent Israeli occupation while president-elect Donald Trump offered mixed messages. He urged Netanyahu to “finish up” the war but did not indicate details for how the war would end and the postwar plan for Gaza.
After the murder of Long Island-born hostage Omer Neutra was confirmed this week, and a video was shared of fellow American citizen Edan Alexander pleading for his release, Trump wrote a strongly worded statement, with “all hell to pay” if the hostages are not released prior to his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Among the 101 remaining hostages held by Hamas and other terrorists, Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and Keith Siegel hold American citizenship and are presumed to be alive. Four other Americans – Neutra, Judith Weinstein, Gadi Haggai, and Itay Chen – are presumed dead with their remains held captive.
Trump has not indicated what he means by “hell to pay,” in regard to defeating Hamas and the future of Gaza, but his proposed cabinet includes staunch supporters of Israel with the presumption that he will allow Israel to determine its military policy without much criticism or restrictions.
Concerning the Netzarim Corridor, perhaps it would become a permanent base for controlling the movement of people in Gaza as Israel seeks to filter out Hamas from the population. It could also be a bargaining chip for ceasefire negotiations in which Israel comes from a strong position in which security is established by the Netzarim Corridor or an equivalent in which there will be an alternative method of preventing the flow of weapons across the Gaza Strip.
By Sergey Kadinsky
