Israel’s withdrawal from the Netzarim corridor in Gaza is a major step. It is being covered all over the world because it is seen as an important and symbolic event.
The BBC says that Israel withdrew from the corridor that “split Gaza in two.” CNN says, “Israel completes withdrawal from key road dividing Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal.” Hamas and Iran see this as a victory. For Israel, it is a major bookend to a key part of the war effort.
The IDF occupied the Netzarim corridor in the first hours of the ground offensive, which began on October 27, twenty days after the Hamas massacre. The IDF’s 36th Division rushed across Gaza to hook up with units coming from the north along the coast. The operation was fast, and it illustrated the IDF’s war of maneuver at its best. The corridor was named after Netzarim, a former Jewish community evacuated in 2005. The corridor had been used before 2005 by the IDF to easily cut Gaza into two pieces. Gaza City was to the north, and central Gaza was to the south of this axis.
It’s important to note that the major way for Gazans to move from the center to the north runs through this area. These include Rashid Road on the coast and Salah al-Din Road in the center. By cutting these roads, the IDF controlled movement in part of Gaza. Throughout the war, the IDF often called on Gazans to leave northern Gaza and move south. Some of them did, but hundreds of thousands refused to leave.
The fighting in some areas became intense, such as in Jabalaya. In other areas, the IDF never fully entered parts of northern Gaza. Some neighborhoods saw limited incursions or bombings, such as Daraj, Tuffah, Rimal, and Shati. Others were witness to numerous operations from the corridor, such as Zeitoun.The purpose of control over the corridor
Once the IDF settled into the corridor, it patrolled it using one armored brigade paired with an infantry brigade. An IDF division would be rotated in and out. The 252nd and 99th divisions became the divisions that rotated in and out of the corridor. Different reservist infantry and armored units would go in and out of the area.
Each tried to add a bit to the corridor. They expanded it on each side, and a road was constructed, along with some earthen strong points. A concrete area was even built near the coast so that aid items from the temporary US pier could be dropped off. However, the pier was a failure and operated only for around a month in the spring of 2024.The IDF never fully knew what it wanted to do with the corridor. When Gazans left Gaza city to head south, they were not searched. This likely enabled Hamas to move personnel and perhaps even hostages south in the early days.
Hamas concentratred itself in Nuseirat, Deir al-Balah, Maghzai and Bureaij south of the corridor in the central camps. This became the Hamas rump state from which Hamas continued to govern Gaza. With only a few exceptions, the IDF left Hamas intact in the center of Gaza. There was the Nuseirat hostage raid in June, freeing four hostages. There was also the unfortunate killing of the World Central Kitchen members on a road near Deir al-Balah. However, for the most part, the corridor and the areas near it were not the scene of intense fighting.The IDF and the high command never figured out what to do with the corridor. Sometimes it was used to facilitate trucks entering Gaza, sometimes trucks and medical personnel would cross the area. Eventually as system to secure all those entering this area was sorted out. But the corridor was not utilized to defeat Hamas in central Gaza or Gaza city itself. This enabled Hamas to survive in Gaza. In the end the hostage deal happened and Hamas re-emerged and Hamas has now returned to the corridor. There are still some issues to be worked out, such as the movement of vehicles across the corridor.
Iran is happy with the developments. “Hamas says the complete withdrawal of the Israeli military from the Netzarim Corridor marks yet another failure for the occupying regime in achieving its declared war goals in Gazal,” Iran’s IRNA said on February 9. “Hamas said that the return of the displaced Palestinian people to their homes and the ongoing exchange of prisoners refuses Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim of achieving victory in the enclave,” the report says. “Gaza will remain a land liberated by the hands of its people and its fighters, and forbidden to the occupying invaders and any external force,” the Hamas statement read.
What becomes of the Netzarim corridor is anyone’s guess. Hamas might go into it and begin to build up terrorist infrastructure again. Hamas could also leave it as is, expecting the IDF to return. Or Hamas might move into the corridor to rebuild roads and homes. It’s a large open space, and the IDF cleared a large area around it to secure it. This meant destroying buildings, orchards, and other things in the corridor.
As military strategy and tactics go the corridor, it was a tactical victory. However, as with the rest of Gaza, it was a temporary tactical victory and lacked strategy.
