'Israel' proceeds with buffer zone plan despite intl. prohibition: AP

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
2 Feb 2024 14:31
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Satellite images analyzed by the Associated Press show how "Israel" deliberately destroyed the Gazan infrastructure where the buffer zone would hypothetically sit.

Israeli forces return from the Gaza Strip, in southern occupied Palestine, near the Gaza "border", Thursday, February 1, 2024. (AP)

Satellite images obtained by the Associated Press show a destroyed belt between the Gaza Strip and the bordering occupied territories, possibly indicating the greenlit plan "Israel" has devised to create what they coined a buffer zone that separates Gaza from the rest of the land to avoid another operation similar to Al Aqsa Flood.

The destruction of Gaza has certainly been extensive, as neighborhoods and almost half of the infrastructure had been pulverized by Israeli bombardments. However, the images indicate that the placement of these bombings coincides with the "borders" of Gaza and the occupied territories.

Israeli destructive operations were peculiarly concentrated where the buffer zone would sit. To clarify, along the "border" itself were farmlands included within the Gazan territory, but were bombed and bulldozed nonetheless, creating a sliver of unusable land.

Moreover, "Israel" had bombed factories, warehouses, and civilian infrastructure within the potential buffer zone. Some of the buildings had been deliberately mined by Combat Engineering units, in preparation for the demolition of the residential bloc.

1,100-1,330 buildings destroyed in total

A manager at the Geographic Information System Center, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told AP that satellite images clearly reflect the Israeli intention of creating the buffer zone. According to Adi Ben-Nun, around 2,850 buildings border the zone, of which 1,100 have been targeted and destroyed as of January 17.

Another analyst told AP that 1,329 buildings have been damaged in total.

A person familiar with the matter previously informed the Financial Times that the goal is to "keep this area completely clean of any [Resistance fighters] or infrastructure, rocket launchers, mortars . . . and to give us the freedom of operation in that space”."

Israeli officials refused to comment on how wide the buffer would be, but Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli military intelligence, said he expected "Israel" would enforce a "perimeter" of 500 meters to 1km inside Gaza.

The international response

"Israel" has been reprimanded by its primary supporter, the United States, for its plans to further narrow the Gaza Strip.

Earlier reports by Reuters revealed that "Israel" informed multiple Arab countries of its intent to establish a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of the Gaza Strip "border" once the war comes to an end. The pretext for doing this is to prevent the repeat of resistance operations.

During his visit to Nigeria, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated his opposition to territorial changes in the Gaza Strip, adding that while he understands the need for what he claimed to be "temporary measures" to prevent an "October" 7 but said the administration opposes any change in territory.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told journalists that officials had “raised with (Israel) the issue of the establishment of a buffer zone,” AP reported after the State Department failed to comment on the analysis provided.

'Israel' confesses

"Israel" had also made it clear that it would not stop at just a buffer zone, but would preferably re-occupy and resettle in Gaza.

On Sunday, an Israeli conference was held to introduce an expansion, invasion, and settlement plan in Gaza amid the genocide. A map was uncovered that revived six previous settlements before the Resistance liberated the Strip, and 15 new additional ones.

Senior Israeli officials expressed extremist wishes to re-occupy the Strip by forcibly driving Palestinians out. In other words, "Israel" loudly confessed to forced displacement, genocide, and occupation, as their goals in Gaza.