Occupation forces fortify military presence to widen Netsarim corridor, disregarding truce talks on Israeli presence there

Satellite imagery captured in August shows that the Occupation expanded its presence in the Netsarim corridor, even as resistance factions demand an end to Israeli presence at the site during ceasefire talks.

In the talks, which began in Doha on August 15 to formulate a deal to end Israel’s aggression on Gaza, the future of the Netsarim corridor emerged as an impasse, with Israel demanding it retain a presence at the site and elsewhere in the strip.

The resistance factions had agreed to an earlier version of a ceasefire proposal endorsed by United States President Joe Biden, only to see it undermined when Israel refused to agree to certain terms. Throughout multiple rounds of negotiations, Israel has repeatedly inserted vague language into the ceasefire text that would effectively allow it to resume military operations at its discretion. For Hamas, Israel’s intransigence in negotiations, along with its insistence on maintaining a presence in Gaza and preventing displaced Palestinians from returning to the north of the strip, are unacceptable starting points for negotiation.

The corridor is an area that Israeli troops bulldozed into the center of the strip in the fifth month of the aggression. It starts from what used to be the Netsarim settlement in the Gaza envelope and extends as an axis separating north and south Gaza, running all the way to the coast in the Gaza Governorate.

Israeli media reported on August 26 the expansion of the Netsarim corridor via the establishment of four large military bases. Mada Masr and the investigation unit at the Febrayer Network reviewed open source satellite imagery captured on August 26 and published on August 28, comparing it with satellite imagery from August 3, which confirmed construction operations at three new military sites over that time period.

The team also reviewed imagery from an additional site that was already present in the Netsarim corridor on August 3, before the expansion. The site was downscaled by August 26 in parallel with the fortification of the new sites.

The map above shows the location of the sites analyzed. The three new sites fall outside the Netsarim corridor area occupied as of August 3. The new sites are both further north and south of the previously occupied area.

The first, shown below, is a small site created near the Zahraa municipality, next to which nine vehicles can be seen stationed in the August 26 imagery. The Occupation carried out extensive demolitions around the site between August 3 and August 26, marked in white below.

[A small base created near the Zahraa municipality. Source: Planet Labs, reviewed by Febrayer Investigative Unit.]

A second site is under construction on agricultural lands and residential blocks that have been flattened to make way for the new structure. The site is between Sekka Street and Salah Eddin Street, east of the Rahma Mosque. Comparing imagery captured on July 22, as the site was obscured in imagery from August 3, with imagery from August 26, it can be seen that major demolitions were undertaken and large areas of land have been bulldozed.

[Bulldozing operations erasing an agricultural and residential square mark another site under construction. Source: Planet Labs, reviewed by Febrayer Investigative Unit.]

A third site was already under construction on August 3. By August 26, a heavier deployment of vehicles was visible next to the site, totaling 25. The base is bordered by Street 10 from the north and the nearby wastewater treatment plant from the south.

[Additional vehicles are deployed to a third site under construction. Source: Planet Labs, reviewed by Febrayer Investigative Unit.]

The final site reviewed was already constructed prior to August 3 inside the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital. By August 26, the Occupation had apparently downscaled the site, withdrawing dozens of vehicles in tandem with reinforcements to the peripheries of the expanded area of the Netsarim corridor.

[At a fourth site, vehicles were withdrawn during August. Source: Planet Labs, reviewed by Febrayer Investigative Unit.]

The imagery also shows the gradual demolition of urban areas to the north and south of the military bases, marked in white on the map below, alongside the deployment of bulldozers, marked in red.

Over the same month, fighters for Palestinian resistance factions continued to push back against the Occupation’s incursion, conducting around 39 military operations in the Netsarim axis, a third of which targeted command headquarters, with the rest targeting military concentrations, gatherings and supply lines. The most prominent of these operations was a raid conducted two weeks ago by the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, on a logistical support company south of the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood that resulted in the killing of the company commander and a truck driver.

According to the Israeli military, 15 soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip and on the border with Lebanon during August, eight of whom were killed in the Netsarim corridor, bringing the total number of Occupation soldiers killed since October 7 to 703.

While the Occupation’s military operations to expand the corridor were underway, a new round of negotiations were being launched in Doha.

The talks were called for by the United States, Egypt and Qatar in a bid to establish a ceasefire deal to avoid escalation in a growing regional conflict as retaliatory attacks on Israel from the resistance axis were anticipated.

Hamas refused to attend the Doha round, citing Israel’s lack of seriousness toward diplomatic efforts as evidenced by its assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran just days beforehand, as well as the Israeli prime minister’s insistence on continuing the war until victory.

During the talks, Israel’s insistence on keeping its forces stationed in the Netsarim axis and the Philadelphi Corridor adjacent to the Egyptian border emerged as a preeminent point of discussion.

The resistance factions have rejected any continued Israeli presence in the two occupied areas, a member of an Egyptian intelligence-affiliated research organization who is in touch with members of Hamas previously told Mada Masr. The same researcher said that Hamas maintains its demand that Palestinians be allowed the freedom to return to their homes in northern Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has clearly stated that Israel intends to maintain a military presence in both the Philadelphi and Netsarim corridors and has no intention of withdrawing troops.

In recent weeks, several sources have spoken about Israel’s desire to divide Gaza’s north from the south. An Egyptian security official informed of the ceasefire negotiations told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity that Israel is working to split the strip in two. Israel wants Palestinians to be concentrated in the south of the strip and to “decrease the population volume in the north,” the source added. Reconstruction would then take place only in the southern areas, which would be subject to strict security measures.

The source said that Egypt is concerned about Israel’s plan and the situation it would create on its border with Gaza. Since the beginning of the war, Egypt has expressed concern regarding the security implications for its borders in the event of a greater number of Palestinians living in southern Gaza.

Israel sent troops into Rafah in May to occupy the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the Gaza Strip’s southern border with Egypt, including the Rafah border crossing. The Occupation claims that weapons reach Hamas via the area, which Egypt has repeatedly denied.