-Analysis-
Israel has revealed the establishment of a buffer zone inside Gaza along its border with the war-wrecked enclave, following the deaths of 21 of its soldiers east of al-Maghazi camp while they were destroying buildings in the designated area in central Gaza.
A buffer zone means the removal of thousands of buildings and acres of agricultural land in the densely-populated strip of territory. In other words it means more destruction and displacement.
Israel says the buffer zone is for the day-after the war, which has raged for nearly four months since the attack in which Hamas militants breached Israel’s heavily fortified borders and stormed into the country, killing at least 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages.
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Israel has waged a punishing air, naval and land campaign on Gaza that killed about 27,000 Palestinians and reduced much of the strip to rubble.
Israeli officials have repeatedly said they would enforce a buffer zone along the border with Gaza to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 attack. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will maintain “full security control” over both Gaza and the occupied West Bank after the war.
In what was the single deadliest attack for Israel in the war, 21 soldiers were killed when the mines they laid in two buildings 600 meters from the border were detonated after Hamas militants fired rocket-propelled grenades. The explosions caused the buildings to collapse, according to the Israeli military.
The buffer zone — or “security belt” as the Israelis call it — has led to the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the confiscation of up to 20% of the strip’s agricultural land. On top of their other suffering, this strategy amounts to a guaranteed economic disaster for the residents of Gaza.
Destruction and confiscation
Palestinians have spent years farming this area, following the second Palestinian uprising (Intifada) in 2000, and Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.
The area — up to 300 meters along the borders — was a buffer zone which Israel maintained after the 2005 withdrawal. This area has been eroded as part of negotiated agreements between Israel and Hamas after their previous bouts of violence over the past two decades.
According to a report by Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, the buffer zone, which Israel is establishing now, covers a total of 62 square kilometers (24 sq miles), or 17% of Gaza’s territory; and about 35% of the strip’s agricultural land.
This would cram Gaza’s 2.3 million people into an even smaller area.
The Israeli military reportedly destroyed 1,072 buildings out of 2,824 that were one kilometer or less from the border line. That’s 40% of the buildings in the border areas.
Gaza is a narrow rectangle-form strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea. The densely enclave occupies 363 square kilometers (140 square miles). It is divided into five main provinces: North Gaza, Gaza, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah.
The buffer zone would extend along the five provinces, and covers between 500 to 1,500 meters inside Gaza from the border line. The zone would cram Gaza’s 2.3 million people into an even smaller area.
The Jerusalem conference
The establishment of a buffer zone is part of a strategy to protect Israel’s borders, which was rejected by the U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.
“More broadly with regard to civilian infrastructure and with regard to the contours of Gaza itself, we’ve spoken very clearly about this and will continue to do so, both with the Government of Israel as well as in public. We do not support any diminution of the territory of Gaza,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference earlier this month.
Israeli officials have told the U.S. administration that the buffer zone would be a temporary one, and will be dismantled once Hamas is removed from power, according to Times of Israel daily.
“Voluntary” migration
Israel’s announcement of the buffer zone last week coincided with a conference held in Jerusalem and attended by government officials and settler leaders which advocated for the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza.
We must return to our homes and think about controlling Gaza.
The star of the conference was Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right leader and Minister of National Security in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
“If we do not want October 7 again, we must return to our homes and think about controlling Gaza,” Ben-Gvir said in his speech at the conference. “We must find a legal way to push the Palestinians towards voluntary migration, and impose the death penalty on the terrorists.”
The conference led to growing concerns among U.S. officials about the reoccupation of Gaza. Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly told U.S. officials last week that he and the Israeli military will not allow the rebuilding of illegal outposts or settlements inside the Gaza Strip, according to Axios news outlet.
Ofir Falk, foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu, said that the buffer zone is a three-level process for the day after, and “there won’t be a situation in which Hamas is directly on the border.”
