Israel expands footprint in Gaza Strip

Israel has dramatically expanded its footprint in the Gaza Strip since relaunching its war against Hamas last month. It now controls more than 50 percent of the territory and is squeezing Palestinians into shrinking wedges of land.

The largest contiguous area the army controls is around the Gaza border, where the military has razed Palestinian homes, farmland and infrastructure to the point of "uninhabitability," according to Israeli soldiers and rights groups. This military buffer zone has doubled in size in recent weeks. Israel has depicted its tightening grip as a temporary necessity to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages taken during the October 7, 2023, attack that started the war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that even after Hamas is defeated, Israel will keep security control in Gaza and push Palestinians to leave.

The demolition close to the border and the systematic expansion of the buffer zone has been going on since the war began 18 months ago, five Israeli soldiers said.

"They destroyed everything they could, they shot everything that looks functioning ... [the Palestinians] will have nothing to come back, they will not come back, never," a soldier deployed with a tank squad guarding the demolition teams said. He and four other soldiers spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

A report documenting the accounts of soldiers who were in the buffer zone was released yesterday by Breaking The Silence, an anti-occupation veterans group.

ASSOCIATED PRESS