On Wednesday evening, the Israeli occupation army announced control of the border strip between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, known as the “Philadelphia Corridor.”
His spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said in a press conference: “In the past few days, Israeli army forces have taken control of the Philadelphia axis.”
He claimed that “Philadelphia served as an oxygen pipeline for Hamas, through which weapons were regularly smuggled into the Gaza Strip.”
As of 19:10 (UTG), Egypt has not commented on what was reported by the Israeli occupation army spokesman.
Hagari added: "This achievement comes as a result of the operational action led by the 162nd Division, which has been fighting in the Rafah area (south of the Gaza Strip) during the past few weeks."
He claimed that "the Israeli army forces found dozens of platforms along the axis that were ready to launch missiles towards Israel."
He claimed that "Hamas took advantage of the Philadelphia area, and established this infrastructure only dozens of meters from the border with Egypt, so that we would not attack it."
Hagari acknowledged that the Israeli forces penetrating into Rafah "are fighting in a complex environment, and there are many militants in the region."
Israel's "practical" control over the entire Philadelphia axis, if true, means officially severing Gaza's borders and geographical relationship with Egypt, and implementing its military siege on the entire Strip.
Earlier on Wednesday, eyewitnesses confirmed that the Israeli occupation army had ground control over two-thirds of the Philadelphia axis, where military vehicles were stationed on Tal Zaroub, an elevated area adjacent to the axis, enabling it to expose the rest of the axis all the way to the seashore.
The Philadelphia Axis, or the Salah al-Din Axis, is a border strip between Egypt and the Gaza Strip that extends within the Strip, hundreds of meters wide and 14.5 kilometers long, from the Kerem Shalom crossing to the Mediterranean Sea.
This axis is part of the border area that is located within the Palestinian territories and is subject to Israeli control according to the “Camp David” peace agreement signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979.
However, the status of this axis was modified according to the “Philadelphia Agreement”, which Israel signed with Egypt in September 2005, after its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Under this agreement, which Tel Aviv considers a security annex to the Camp David Agreement and governed by its general principles and provisions, Israel withdrew from the Philadelphia axis and handed it over, along with the Rafah crossing, to the Palestinian Authority.
750 Egyptian border guard soldiers were allowed to be deployed on the border separating the Gaza Strip with a specific mission of combating "terrorism, cross-border infiltration, smuggling, and detecting tunnels."
In 2007, Hamas took control of Gaza, and the Philadelphia axis came under its control, while Israel imposed a stifling siege on the Strip.
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