ISRAEL’S DILEMMAThe dispute puts Israel in a bind. If it stops its offensive without taking Rafah, it falls short on its top war goal of crushing Hamas. If its military pushes to the border, it risks undermining its peace deal with Egypt — a foundation of stability in the Mideast for decades — and upsetting its closest ally, the United States.Israel and the U.S. are already divided over Gaza’s post-war future. The Israeli military is working to create an informal buffer zone about a kilometer (half a mile) wide inside Gaza along the border with Israel to prevent militants from attacking nearby communities. The U.S. says it opposes any attempt by Israel to shrink Gaza’s territory.Israel vows to expunge the militants from the entire Gaza Strip and has done so by a strategy of systematic destruction, at a huge cost in civilian lives. Starting in north Gaza, it leveled large swaths of the urban landscape, saying it was eliminating Hamas tunnels and infrastructure while battling militants. It is working its way down the territory, doing the same in central Gaza and the southern city of Khan Younis.Netanyahu has said Israel intends to keep open-ended security control over Gaza to ensure Hamas cannot repeat its Oct. 7 attacks that triggered Israel’s assault. He has been vague on what form that would take but said ensuring control over the Philadelphi Corridor is crucial.“There are a few options on how we can close it, we are checking all of them, and we haven’t made a decision, except for one thing: It must be closed,” he said.Egypt warned Israel and the U.S. that any military operations in the zone “could tear apart our peace,” a second Egyptian official said. “We will not tolerate such a move.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.IMPORTANCE OF THE PHILADELPHI CORRIDORThe corridor is a narrow strip – about 100 meters (yards) wide in parts – running the 14-kilometer (8.6-mile) length of the Gaza side of the border with Egypt. It includes the Rafah crossing into Egypt, Gaza’s sole outlet not controlled by Israel.The corridor is part of a larger demilitarized zone along both sides of the entire Israel-Egypt border. Under the peace accord, each side is allowed to deploy only a tiny number of troops or border guards in the zone. At the time of the accord, Israeli troops controlled Gaza, until Israel withdrew its forces and settlers in 2005.Hamas has had free rein of the border since its 2007 takeover.Smuggling tunnels were dug under the Gaza-Egypt border to get around the Israeli-Egyptian blockade. Some of the tunnels were massive, large enough for vehicles. Hamas brought in weapons and supplies, and Gaza residents smuggled in commercial goods, from livestock to construction materials.That changed over the past decade, as Egypt battled Islamic militants in the Sinai. The Egyptian military cracked down on the tunnels and destroyed hundreds of them, saying they were being used to funnel weapons into the Sinai. It bolstered its border wall above and below ground and cleared the population from a 5-kilometer-deep (3-mile) area adjacent to Gaza where only military and police forces are allowed.During the fight against Sinai militants, Egypt negotiated with Israel and the U.S. to allow the deployment of its military in Zone C, as the demilitarized zone is known on its side of the border.
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