Israeli troops to remain in Gaza buffer zone, defence minister says, as truce efforts stall | CBC News (2025)

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· Posted: Apr 16, 2025 9:58 AM EDT | Last Updated: April 16

Israeli troops will remain in the buffer zones they have created inGazaeven after any settlement is reached to end the war, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday, as efforts to revive a ceasefire agreementfaltered.

Since resuming their operation last month, Israeli forces have carved out a broad"security zone"extending deep intoGazaand squeezing more than twomillion Palestinians into ever smaller areas in the south and along the coastline.

"Unlike in the past, the IDF is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized," Katz said in a statement following a meeting with military commanders, adding that "tens of per cent" ofGazahad been added to the zone.

"The [Israel Defence Forces]will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and the communities in any temporary or permanent situation inGaza— as in Lebanon and Syria."

In a summary of its operations over the past month, the Israeli military said it now controls 30 per centof the tiny Palestinian territory.

In southernGazaalone, Israeli forces have seized about 20 per cent of the enclave's territory, taking control of the border city of Rafah and pushing inland up to the MoragCorridor, which runs from the eastern edge ofGazato the Mediterranean Sea between Rafah and the city of Khan Younis.

The military already held a wide corridor across the central Netzarim area and has extended a buffer zone all around the border hundreds of metres inland, including the Shuja'iyyaarea just to the east ofGazaCity in the north.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Hamas fighters, including many senior commanders of the Palestinian militant group, but the operation has alarmed theUnited NationsandEuropean countries.

Gazaa 'mass grave' of Palestinians: MSF

More than 400,000 Palestinians have been displaced sincehostilities resumedon March 18 after two months of relative calm, according to the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, and Israeli airstrikes and bombardments have killed at least 1,630 people.

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) saidGazahad become a "mass grave," with humanitarian groups struggling to provide aid.

"We are witnessing in real time the destruction and forced displacement of the entire population inGaza," Amande Bazerolle, MSF's emergency co-ordinator inGaza,said in a statement.

Katz said Israel, which has blocked the delivery of aid supplies into the territory, was creating infrastructure to allow distribution through civilian companies at a later date. But he said the blockade on aid would remain in place.

WATCH | Sisters flee north Gaza hospital after Israel orders evacuation before strike:

The defence minister said Israel would push forward with a plan to allowGazans who wished to leave the enclave to do so, although it remains unclear which countries would be willing to accept large numbers of Palestinians.

The comments from Katz, repeating Israel's demand on Hamas to disarm, underscore how far apartthe two sides remain from any ceasefire agreement, despite efforts by Egyptian mediators to revive efforts to reach a deal.

Hamas has repeatedly described calls to disarm as a red line it will not cross and has said Israeli troops must withdraw fromGazaunder any permanent ceasefire.

"Any truce lacking real guarantees for halting the war, achieving full withdrawal, lifting the blockade, and beginning reconstruction will be a political trap," Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday.

Prominent Palestinian writer killed in latest strikes

Two Israeli officials said this week that there had been no progress in the talks despite media reports of a possible truce to allow the exchange of some of the 59 hostages still held inGazafor Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli officials have said the increased military pressure will force Hamas to release the hostages, but the government has faced largedemonstrationsby Israeli protesters demanding a deal to stop the fighting and get them back.

On Wednesday, Palestinian medical authorities said an airstrike killed 10 people, including Fatema Hassouna, a well-known writer and photographer who had documented the war. A strike on another house further north killed three, they said.

Israel launched its campaign inGazain response to the October 2023 attack by Hamas-led militants on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

The offensive has killed at least 51,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and devastated the coastal enclave, forcing most of the population to move multiple times and reducing broad areas to rubble.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry inGazasaid Israel's suspension of the entry of fuel, medical supplies and food since early March had begun to obstruct the work of the few remaining working hospitals, with medical supplies drying up.

"Hundreds of patients and wounded individuals are deprived of essential medications, and their suffering is worsening due to the closure of border crossings," the ministry said.

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