Israel’s seizure, also in May, of a strip of land that runs along Gaza’s southern border fulfilled another goal of the invasion, although it portends further isolation for Palestinians.
The strip, called the Philadelphi Corridor by Israel and Salah Al Din by Egypt, is around 300 feet wide and runs roughly eight miles from Israel’s border to the Mediterranean. To the northeast is Gaza, while Egypt lies to the southwest. Egyptian border guards have been policing the land under an agreement made with Israel in 2005 when Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza back then.
Israel accused Hamas of using tunnels beneath the strip to smuggle weapons and personnel. But the tunnels have also been used to bring food and other goods into Gaza.
Military officials say the seizure of the strip has further isolated the territory, which was already facing a widespread hunger crisis.
While Israel has rescued some hostages held above ground in elaborate operations, many of the hostages are hidden in the tunnel network.
Biden administration officials say diplomacy is the only way that Israel can achieve possibly its biggest goal — getting its hostages back.
For Hamas to agree to release the hostages, American officials say it is critical to have incentives for the group to remain on the sidelines after a cease-fire deal is struck. The biggest incentive, U.S. officials said, is a meaningful pathway to an independent Palestinian state.
If a cease-fire does come, Hamas will struggle to regain its strength. It will have to rearm with a diminished flow of weapons from Iran, analysts and officials say, and it will have to begin what could be a difficult process of recruiting fighters from a war-weary Palestinian population.
The biggest unknown for both Israel and the Palestinians is who, or what, comes after Hamas, American and other Western officials say.