A Hamas official said Israeli troops completed their withdrawal yesterday from a strategic road cutting through the Gaza Strip, part of a fragile truce deal that Israel said it was implementing.But diplomatic tensions were high after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to suggest in an interview that a Palestinian state could be established on Saudi territory, drawing the ire of Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations.As negotiations are set to begin on the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war, Palestinians yesterday were able to cross the Netzarim Corridor, where an Israeli checkpoint used to stand.An official from the Hamas-run interior ministry said: "Israeli forces have dismantled their positions... and completely withdrawn their tanks from the Netzarim Corridor on Salaheddin Road, allowing vehicles to pass freely in both directions.”AFP journalists saw no troops in the area as cars, buses, pickup trucks and donkey carts travelled both north and south along the road.Gaza resident Mahmoud al-Sarhi said that "arriving at the Netzarim Corridor meant death until this morning”.This is "the first time I saw our destroyed house,” he told AFP of his home in the nearby Zeitun area."The entire area is in ruins. I cannot live here.”A senior Hamas official said Israel’s Israeli withdrawal from Netzarim had been scheduled for yesterday under the terms of the truce that took effect on January 19. Asked about yesterday’s withdrawal, an Israeli security official told AFP on condition of anonymity: "We are preparing to implement the ceasefire agreement according to the guidelines of the political echelon.”This came as Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces shot dead three civilians in Gaza City north of Netzarim yesterday, with the military saying it fired "warning shots” and hit Palestinians who had approached troops.
February 10, 2025 | 12:37 AM