TURN ALL OF GAZA INTO A BUFFER ZONE

IDF to evacuate Rafah, create Gaza-Sinai border buffer zone

The strategic measure will weaken Hamas and signal a new policy of long-term punishment for Palestinian terror.

 

Israel Today

Apr 10, 2025

 

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, right, during a field tour and situational assessment in southern Gaza on April 8, 2025.

 

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has announced plans to evacuate the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and establish a strategic buffer zone along the border with Egypt. This project aims to dismantle Hamas’s military presence in the area and prevent weapons smuggling across the Egyptian border.

The centerpiece of the plan is the creation of the so-called “Morag Corridor,” a new security zone running from the Mediterranean Sea in the west, through the former settlement of Morag, to the Philadelphia Corridor on the Egyptian border. This corridor is intended to extend up to five kilometers into the Gaza Strip, effectively encircling Rafah.

Defense Minister Israel Katz stated: “Rafah will be evacuated. This area will become a buffer zone to eliminate Hamas’s ability to reorganize or smuggle weapons across the southern border.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that the establishment of the Morag Corridor is also aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas – especially with a view to the release of the hostages still being held. At the same time, it is about regaining and securing control over the southern border area in the long term.

The establishment of this buffer zone comes against the backdrop of increased IDF activity in the southern Gaza Strip. Updated evacuation maps show expanded exclusion zones near the border. Israeli officials emphasize that these measures are necessary to prevent Hamas’s resurgence and the use of smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.

An IDF spokesperson stated: “This operation is not just tactical, but strategic. Control of Rafah and the Philadelphia Corridor will close Hamas’s last remaining external supply routes.”

Although the IDF has not yet launched a full-scale ground offensive in Rafah, preparations are underway, and officials emphasize that the offensive will advance once the evacuation of civilians is complete.