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TPS-IL on 2 September, 2024
Israeli Forces Begin Returning to Netzarim Corridor in First Ground Operation
Jerusalem, 19 March, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Israeli forces launched ground operations in Gaza, the first since a two-month ceasefire ended on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Wednesday.
“Over the past 24 hours, IDF forces have begun a focused ground operation in the center of the Gaza Strip and in the south with the aim of expanding the security zone and creating a partial buffer between the north and south of the Strip. As part of the operation, the forces took control and re-expanded their control to the center of the Netzarim corridor,” the IDF said.
Israeli forces have blocked Gaza’s Salah ad-Din highway, the Strip’s main north-south highway. The move would prevent Hamas movements between northern and southern Gaza.
The Netzarim corridor is a roughly seven-km-road running from east to west, that bisects the Strip. It crosses from Israel, at a point between Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Nahal Oz, and stretches to the Mediterranean. Israel’s withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor was a key Hamas ceasefire demand.
Airstrikes launched by Israel on Tuesday ended a two-month ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group.
Hamas insisted on the original ceasefire terms, which called for Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent end to the war in exchange for the remaining hostages. However, Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to continue operations until Hamas is dismantled. Talks over phase two of the agreement, set to begin February 3, never took place.
Despite this, the ceasefire held for weeks as mediators sought new terms. Last week, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff proposed extending phase one of the ceasefire in exchange for the release of five hostages. However, Witkoff dismissed Hamas’s response to the proposal as unacceptable, warning of consequences if the group did not reconsider.
At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 59 remaining hostages, 36 are believed to be dead.
