The Israeli military has begun construction of one-kilometer (2/3 mile) buffer zone on the Gaza side of Israel’s 37-mile border with the enclave, according to a report Sunday by Israel’s Channel 12 News.
Israel Defense Forces personnel will be the only ones allowed to enter the buffer zone, to extend from the north to the south of the enclave, as a means of preventing Hamas or any other terrorists from infiltrating or attacking Israel. Anyone else entering the zone will be shot.
Israel informed its peace partners Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates about the plan several weeks ago, Reuters reported. Saudi Arabia and Turkey were both informed as well, although the message was conveyed through third parties.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari disclosed on Saturday night that Israeli forces destroyed and seized approximately 30,000 explosive devices, including anti-tank missiles and rockets that were in Hamas’ possession over the course of the ground war. The forces found dozens of explosives, hundreds of grenades and intelligence documents this weekend in a Hamas weapons complex located in close proximity to schools, a clinic and a mosque. Gaza civilians were sheltering in the building as well.
Even more ominously, IDF soldiers found explosive bomb belts sized and adapted for children in the complex.
Could it be that in the future, Hamas will send its own children into the buffer zone to die as “martyrs” in the attempt to murder Israelis and for the negative media fallout that will result? Of course they will.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his most recent visit to Israel that the IDF plans to establish a buffer zone “deep” into Gaza after the war, Israel’s KAN News public broadcaster reported.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a briefing several days later that Washington opposes any proposed buffer zone inside the Gaza Strip because it would violate Washington’s position that the size of the enclave must not be reduced after the current conflict.
“So if any proposed buffer zone was inside Gaza, that would be a violation of that principle and something we oppose. If it’s with respect to something within Israeli territory I won’t speak to that- that’s a decision for the Israelis to make,” Miller said.
Following the invasion of southern Israel and massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis on October 7th — Shabbat Simchat Torah — Hamas-led terrorists wounded at least 5,000 others and abducted some 250 other people, including foreign nationals, and dragged them into Gaza. There are still 128 hostages being held captive in Gaza, including at least 20 who have been murdered by the terrorists and whose bodies are being held there. Another 121 hostages were freed by Hamas in exchange for some 300 incarcerated Palestinian Authority terrorists held in Israeli prisons.
Hamas has fired more than 12,500 rockets at Israeli towns and cities since the start of the war. IDF soldiers have killed at least 7,800 terrorists in Gaza and 21,600 terrorist targets have been struck by Israeli forces on land, by sea and in the air.
Israel’s prime minister, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz and other top defense officials have repeatedly said the war being waged by Israel against Hamas in Gaza has three goals: to rescue and return all hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, including those who were kidnapped on October 7th and four others who were taken captive in 2014; to eradicate the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, including its military capabilities and its ability to rule the enclave; and to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to the State of Israel and its citizens.
