The IDF will not pull out of the Philadelphi Corridor that separates the Gaza Strip from Egypt, an Israeli official told reporters on Thursday, saying Jerusalem would refuse to allow Hamas terrorists to regroup and again attack Israeli communities.
“We will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor. We will not allow the Hamas murderers to again roam our borders with pickup trucks and guns, and we will not allow them to rearm through smuggling,” the source said in a statement made to Israeli reporters on condition of anonymity.
This commitment comes despite the ceasefire’s requirement for the Israel Defense Forces to vacate the stretch, some 110-yards wide and 8.7-miles long, along Gaza’s border with Sinai eight days after the first phase of the truce.
During a tour of the route in December, Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed that the IDF will maintain security in the area going forward.
The corridor served as the main smuggling route that enabled Hamas to amass the weapons it used to invade Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, murder some 1,200 people there and abduct another 251.
The IDF took hold of the Philadelphi Corridor, which it had controlled for decades before the 2005 disengagement, during its 15-month-long campaign in Gaza.
