Satellite photos show new demolition along a 1-kilometer-wide path on the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel, according an analysis by The Associated Press and expert reports. The destruction comes as Israel has said it wants to establish a buffer zone there, over international objections, further tearing away at land the Palestinians want for a state.The Telegraph has a similar story, as does the Washington Post. The US State Department says it opposes any such zone.
Hardly mentioned in these articles is that a buffer zone inside Gaza already existed for many years.
There was a 1 kilometer buffer zone before Israel withdrew from Gaza. Israel rebuilt it after Hamas took over to keep infiltrators away from the fence, and regularly went in to clear land near the fence so have a line of sight towards any attackers, such as the shooters of a laser guided Kornet missile at a school bus that killed a child in 2011.
Anti-Israel activists complained about the buffer zone over the years, which then was 300 meters wide in most places, falsely claiming that it took up a huge amount of Gaza's farmable land.
During the 2014 Gaza war, Israel expanded the buffer zone again to one kilometer. It was a temporary move.
So what happened to that buffer zone?
Hamas appears to have meticulously erased it, inch by inch. And it might have been in anticipation of the October 7 attacks.
In 2018 and 2019 Hamas staged riots at the Gaza fence, daring Israel to shoot at huge crowds of people who gathered there - in the buffer zone.
It appears to have worked. Israel doesn't seem to have been enforcing the buffer zone since these events, instead concentrating on relying on its high-tech fence at the border for security.
And because of this laxity, the IDF did not respond properly to October 7.
There is no difference between the potential buffer zone now and the one during the 2010s, which did not bother any governments or media at all.
But now the idea of Israel defending itself from bloodthirsty genocidal jihadists is considered "controversial." And the fact that there is so much criticism of this potential buffer zone after the October 7 pogrom, when there wasn't any such criticism beforehand, sends a clear message to Israel that its citizens' lives are worthless.
Which is a much bigger problem than any buffer zone could ever be.
By the way, Hamas itself built a buffer zone at the Egyptian border, at the request of Egypt, As far as I can tell, no "human rights" groups showed any concern over any private property or building destruction by Hamas at the time.
Israel is being judged by standards that no one else ever has been. And it is only getting worse.
