By Quds News Network
Gaza (Quds News Network)- The Israeli military is preparing to turn Rafah city in southern Gaza, along with its surrounding neighborhoods, into a buffer zone along the border, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Wednesday, citing military officials.
Morag Axis
Last Week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the forces were “seizing territory” and “dividing up” Gaza.
According to OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency, the Israeli military has declared over 64% of the territory military buffer zones and “no-go” zones for civilians.
The same week, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled Rafah and surrounding areas, as Israeli ground troops advanced to create Netanyahu’s newly announced corridor, Morag.
The Morag Corridor consists mainly of agricultural land located between Khan Younis and Rafah, stretching from east to west across the Gaza Strip.
It also includes parts of what the Israeli military had previously designated as a “humanitarian zone”.
The name “Morag” that he used refers to an illegal Israeli settlement that was established in the region between 1972 and 2005.
Troops have raided prominent residential neighbourhoods in the city – which was densely populated before the war – and indiscriminately killed civilians, including executing medics, while forcing tens of thousands to flee on foot.
The military has said its aim is to “encircle” Rafah.
A defence source told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that they were surprised by Netanyahu’s announcement that the army had seized the “Morag Axis”.
Netanyahu said that the purpose of controlling the area is to “divide” the Gaza Strip by cutting Rafah off from Khan Younis and to “increase pressure step by step so they will give us our hostages”.
Israeli forces previously attempted to control east-to-west corridors in northern Gaza, parallel to the so-called “Morag axis”, as part of military strategy to increase pressure on specific regions.
At the onset of the war, they controlled the so-called Netzarim Corridor, located between Gaza City and central Gaza, blocking the movement of people between the enclave’s north and south.
Currently, Israeli forces control the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt in southern Rafah.
According to the terms of the January ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor by the end of the first phase, a clause they failed to honour.
Netanyahu called the “Morag axis” the “Second Philadelphi” Corridor.
“Nothing Left to Destroy”
The area, located between the Philadelphi Corridor to the south and the Morag Corridor to the north, was home to around 200,000 Palestinians before the Israeli assault. In recent weeks, however, it has been left almost entirely deserted following widespread destruction caused by the Israeli military.
The military has refrained until now from turning large cities like Rafah into the buffer zone, Haaretz said.
According to Haaretz, citing defense officials, the move to include Rafah came after Israel’s decision to resume the assault in February, and against the backdrop of Netanyahu’s statement that Israel would seize large areas of Gaza.
In some respects, it appears the army is seeking to replicate in the south the methods it employed in northern Gaza, Haaretz added.
The buffer zone covers a vast area – approximately 75 square kilometers (about 29 square miles), roughly one-fifth of the Gaza Strip. It would effectively turn Gaza into an enclave within Israeli-controlled territory, cutting it off from the Egyptian border. According to the sources, this consideration played a central role in the decision to focus on Rafah.
The sources added that the move is also intended to create new levers of pressure on Hamas.
According to the Israeli newspaper, there is a growing understanding withing the militart that Israel is unlikely to receive international backing – including from Washington – for a prolonged assault in Gaza.
As a result, the military is preparing to concentrate its operations in areas where it believes it can maximize the pressure on Hamas’ leadership.
As part of its preparations, the military is already working to expand the Morag Axis, demolishing structures along its path. In some sections, it will be several hundred meters wide, and in certain areas, it could exceed a kilometer.
According to defense sources, it has yet to be decided whether the entire area will simply be designated a buffer zone that is off-limits to civilians – as has been done in other parts of the border area – or whether the area will be fully cleared and all buildings demolished, effectively wiping out the city of Rafah.
However, the military’s new activity in the area is not limited to the stretch between Morag and Philadelphi corridor. In recent weeks, soldiers have begun taking up positions along the entire perimeter, in what appears to be a preliminary move, Haaretz said.
“There’s nothing left to destroy in the buffer zone,” said a commander who served for more than 240 days in Gaza during the Israeli assault and took part in demolishing structures and clearing operations along the buffer zone and the Netzarim corridor.
“The entire area is unfit for human habitation. There’s no need to send so many soldiers into these places.”
Reservist commanders and soldiers said that the military is repeating the same messages it used at the start of the war, without confronting the reality on the ground.
“I can’t believe that after a year and a half, we’re back to square one,” said a soldier from a reserve brigade currently serving in the Gaza Strip. “We’re being sent to destroy what’s already been destroyed, without anyone knowing how long it will take, what the actual goal is or what level of operational success is needed for the forces to complete the mission.”
10 April 2025
Source: countercurrents.org