by Israel was trying to demolish part of a Palestinian neighborhood while pursuing a plan to create a buffer zone between Gaza and Israel when around 20 Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion on Monday, according to three Israeli officials and one Israeli officer involved in the demolitions.
Monday’s explosion occurred after Gaza militants fired on a tank guarding an Israeli unit that had been placing explosives inside Palestinian buildings on the border in central Gaza with the intention of demolishing them, according to a news conference held. by the Israeli army on Tuesday. In the shootout, the explosives exploded, killing many of the soldiers inside, the military said.
Israel wants to demolish many of the Palestinian buildings near the border to create what they describe as a “safety zone,” according to the three officials, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Two of the officials said Israel’s goal was to create a buffer zone of about six-tenths of a mile along Israel’s entire roughly 36-mile border with Gaza. At its narrowest point, the territory is less than four miles wide.
They are intended to make it difficult for militants to repeat a raid like the one on October 7, in which some 1,400 people were killed and kidnapped, according to Israeli estimates, and which led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents of southern Israel. One of Israel’s war goals is to create conditions that will persuade Israeli evacuees that it is safe to return home. Some of the demolished areas are located a few hundred meters from the Israeli neighborhoods that were attacked.
When asked about creating a buffer zone, the military said its forces were “locating and destroying terrorist infrastructure embedded, among other things, within buildings,” which they said was necessary to implement a defense plan. for southern Israel.
The army’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said at a news conference on Tuesday that the slain soldiers had participated in an operation to “create security conditions for the return of southern residents to their homes.” ‘
The idea of a buffer zone gained such momentum in Israeli discourse that the State Department spoke against in December, because it would effectively reduce the size of Gaza, a process the US administration opposes.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby repeated that objection Tuesday, when asked at a White House news conference about Israel’s moves to create a buffer zone. “We don’t want the territory of Gaza to shrink in any way,” Kirby said. “We will not support that.”
However, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, speaking during a visit to Nigeria, said the United States was open to a temporary buffer zone, although only to allow the return of Israelis who had fled their homes along of the Gaza border after October 7.
“If there need to be transition agreements for that to happen, it’s one thing for it to happen,” Blinken said. “But when it comes to the permanent status of Gaza in the future, we have been clear and continue to be clear. about not invading their territory.”
For Palestinians, the practice is cruel and would prevent Gazans, in an already overcrowded enclave, from returning to their homes. Critics of Israeli policy say the practice is part of a broader disregard for civilian housing and property. Most of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged during the war, according to United Nations estimates, and more than 25,000 Gazans have been killed, according to Gaza officials.
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, said a systematic demolition of Palestinian border homes could constitute a war crime because they pose no immediate threat to Israel.
“There is simply no provision in the Geneva Conventions about what Israel is doing along the border, which is some kind of preventive clearance of property,” Rajagopal said in a telephone interview.
“Israel can take measures on a property-by-property basis, but not across the border,” Rajagopal said. “Israel, as an occupying power, has an obligation not to engage in what is called wanton destruction of property.” The military did not respond to a request for comment on the claims.
While Israel has never formally announced the demolition of Palestinian border housing, the concept of a buffer zone along the Gaza border has been widely discussed by Israeli media since early December, when Reuters reported on the idea.
Israeli ministers have also hinted at plans to create such a buffer zone since the first weeks of the war. Eli Cohen, the then foreign minister, said that after the war, “the territory of Gaza will also shrink.”
Days later, Avi Dichter, the agriculture minister, spoke of creating “a buffer” along the Gaza border. “No matter who you are, you can never get close to the Israeli border,” Dichter said.
Gabby Sobelman, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Erica L. Green and Michael Crowley contributed reports.
