ISRAELI FORCES HAVE withdrawn from the road that bisects the Gaza Strip as part of the fragile ceasefire agreement in place in the territory, a Hamas official has confirmed.
“Israeli forces have dismantled their positions and military posts and completely withdrawn their tanks from the Netzarim Corridor on Salaheddin Road, allowing vehicles to pass freely in both directions,” the Hamas official said.
AFP news agency journalists saw no troops in the area today as cars, buses, pickup trucks and donkey carts travelled along the road from both the north and south, crossing the Netzarim Corridor where an Israeli checkpoint used to stand.
According to a senior Hamas official, the Israeli withdrawal from Netzarim had been scheduled for today under the terms of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on 19 January after more than 15 months of war.
The text of the deal has not been made public.
Gaza resident Mahmoud al-Sarhi told AFP that for him, ”arriving at the Netzarim Corridor meant death until this morning.”
This is “the first time I saw our destroyed house,” he said of his home in the nearby Zeitun area.
“The entire area is in ruins. I cannot live here.”
Asked about today’s withdrawal, an Israeli security official, who requested anonymity, told AFP: “We are preparing to implement the ceasefire agreement according to the guidelines of the political echelon.”
The withdrawal comes as negotiations are set to begin on the next phase of the ceasefire, which is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered negotiators to return to Qatar, which helped mediate the truce, while repeating his vow to crush Hamas.
“With the completion of the release phase, Prime Minister Netanyahu has instructed the dispatch of a negotiation delegation to Doha to discuss technical details of the agreement,” his office said in a statement.
It added that on his return to Israel from the United States, where he became the first foreign leader to meet President Donald Trump in the White House since his inauguration, Netanyahu will “hold a security cabinet meeting regarding negotiations for the second phase of the hostage release deal”.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said yesterday that Israel’s “lack of commitment in implementing the first phase… exposes this agreement to danger and thus it may stop or collapse”.
Earlier this week, Trump sparked global outrage by suggesting the United States should ethnically cleanse and take control of the Gaza Strip, in order to create “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
He said Egypt or Jordan could take in Palestinians from Gaza – an idea both countries have flatly rejected.
The Israeli defence minister Israel Katz this week ordered the army to prepare for “voluntary” departures from Gaza, adding that countries that have been critical of Israel’s prosecution of the war, including Ireland, should take in people from the devastated territory.
Trump has ruled out sending American troops to the territory, and in an interview with Fox News yesterday, Netanyahu said Israel was willing to “do the job”.
“I think that President Trump’s proposal is the first fresh idea in years, and it has the potential to change everything in Gaza,” said Netanyahu.
Trump “never said he wants American troops to do the job. Guess what? We’ll do the job,” he added.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty is heading to Washington for talks today, while Jordan’s King Abdullah II is due to meet Trump at the White House on 11 February.
Egypt will host a summit of Arab nations on 27 February to discuss “the latest serious developments” concerning the Palestinian territories, its foreign ministry said today.
Israeli forces shot dead an eight months pregnant Palestinian in the occupied West Bank today, as the military said it had “targeted terrorists” in the area.
The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said Sundus Jamal Muhammad Shalabi was killed in a pre-dawn incident in the Nur Shams refugee camp, where the Israeli occupation forces have been conducting raids.
Her husband, Yazan Abu Shola, was also critically injured, the ministry said.
The 23-year-old mother-to-be was dead when she arrived at a local hospital, the ministry said.
“Medical teams were unable to save the baby’s life due to the occupation (Israel’s military) preventing the transfer of the injured to the hospital,” a ministry statement said.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the claim that Shalabi had been killed by Israeli fire.
The incident took place at around dawn, Murad Alyan, a member of the popular committee in the camp, told AFP.
“The two were trying to leave the camp before the occupation forces advanced into it. They were shot while they were inside their car, and the wife and her baby were martyred, while the husband was injured,” Alyan said.
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned what it described “a crime of execution committed by the occupation forces this morning”.
The ministry accused Israeli forces of “deliberately targeting defenceless civilians”.
With reporting from AFP
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say