Israel’s military withdrew Sunday from a key corridor dividing the Gaza Strip, leaving nearly all of the territory’s north as required by a tenuous cease-fire agreement with Hamas.
The military’s departure from the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza came as the Israeli government sent a delegation to Qatar over the weekend to discuss the next group of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be freed during the cease-fire agreement’s initial phase, which came into effect last month and is ongoing. The gaunt appearances of three Israeli hostages who were released on Saturday, stoking public comparisons to Holocaust victims, heaped new pressure on the negotiations.
In a statement on Sunday, the Israeli military said troops were “implementing the agreement” to leave the corridor and allow hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to continue returning home to northern Gaza.
Two Israeli military officials and a soldier in Gaza who were not authorized to discuss the situation publicly or by name said the troops had already left the Netzarim Corridor by Sunday morning.
Hamas also said that Israeli troops had departed from the Netzarim Corridor, saying in a statement that it was “a victory for the will of our people.”
The departure from the Netzarim Corridor means that Israeli forces have withdrawn from almost all of northern Gaza — except for a nearby buffer zone on the Israeli border. The Israeli military had ordered a mass evacuation of northern Gaza in the early days of the war and patrolled the corridor, in part to prevent Palestinians from returning.
Gaza’s interior ministry alerted Palestinians heading north on Sunday that their vehicles could still be inspected by foreign security contractors there to prevent weapons from being transferred from the south.
“We call on citizens to be careful and adhere to moving according to the currently permitted mechanism for their safety,” the interior ministry said in a statement Sunday.
Israeli troops had already partially withdrawn from the Netzarim Corridor, leaving the foreign contractors to fill the void. Their complete withdrawal was required under the first 42-day phase of the cease-fire agreement — which is now at the halfway point — and necessary to advance to the next stage of the deal to fully bring an end to the war in Gaza.
Significant new pitfalls to reaching an agreement for the next phase emerged over the past week, however, after President Trump said that the United States could take over Gaza and turn it into the “Rivera of the Middle East” by relocating its Palestinian residents.
On Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry again rejected the proposal, repeating that no lasting peace agreement could be reached without creating a sovereign Palestinian state — a diplomatic goal for generations, but one that officials and experts now say is likely all but impossible to achieve.
The emaciated appearance of three Israeli hostages who were freed by Hamas on Saturday has also spurred widespread concern in Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not acted quickly enough to ensure their or others’ release — increasing the pressure on the Israeli government to bring the rest of the captives home and advance to the second phase of a deal.
But despite the weekend meetings in Qatar, little to no progress was expected on negotiating the next stage until Mr. Netanyahu convenes a meeting of his top security officials in the coming days.
In an interview on Saturday in Washington, where he had been meeting with the Trump administration, Mr. Netanyahu said Hamas, not him, was to blame for the hostages’ conditions. He predicted that at least a half-dozen more hostages would be released by the end of next week.
“We have three war aims in Gaza,” Mr. Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News. “One, destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities. Two, get all the hostages out. Three, make sure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again. And I’m committed to achieving all three.”
Even as Israeli troops left the key corridor in Gaza, they continued raids and patrols in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian health officials there said at least two people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were killed in the Nour al-Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm. The Israeli military did not comment on any casualties.
Hiba Yazbek contributed reporting.
