Buffer zones and annexation: Israel’s new military strategy in Gaza
Gaza Buffer Zone
The New Arab writes on 17 April 2025:
Since Israel resumed its war on the Gaza Strip on 18 March following a hiatus of nearly two months following the ceasefire deal agreed on 19 January, Israeli forces have adopted different operational methods and field tactics from those employed during the first stage of the war.
The second and third phases of the truce deal would have led to an end to the war, but Israel reneged on the agreement.
The current strategy of the Israeli military is predominantly centred on expanding what Israel calls the buffer zone in Gaza and annexing additional territory in the coastal enclave.
Early on in the war, which began in October 2023 following Hamas’s attack, Israel relied on aerial and artillery bombardment, as well as extensive assassination operations targeting leading figures in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), as well as government staff and emergency committee workers.
With Israel’s ground invasion in late October 2023, its forces were deployed in Gaza’s eastern regions in order to enter the rest of the Strip from these areas. This, however, was largely avoided during the first phase of the war due to fears of the defensive capacity of Palestinian armed groups in those areas at that stage.
Now, Israel is following a different approach – penetrating into various areas in the east of the Gaza Strip along the border from north to south. These areas were originally part of the security buffer zone, with low population densities.
It appears that Israeli forces are seeking to squeeze Gaza’s already limited territory to increase pressure on Palestinian fighters and the civilian population by encroaching on more land and annexing it to the buffer zone. At the same time, Israeli forces appear to be avoiding engaging directly with Palestinian armed groups.