The military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, said that the Israeli occupation forces will withdraw from the Netzarim and Philadelphia axes in the Gaza Strip, and will stop carrying out military operations that failed to achieve the goals set by the political leadership.
Al-Duwairi’s comment came in the context of his analysis of the military scene in the Gaza Strip after the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), broadcast a video clip of the bombing of the occupation command and control site in the Netzarim axis, which separates the northern Gaza Strip from its center and south.
Al-Duwairi explained that there is an “incomplete military division” with two brigades in the Netzarim axis that carries out military operations north and south, noting that the operations of Al-Qassam and the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, in the region have never stopped, and forced the occupation to enter into a real battle of attrition.
He stressed that the resistance has proven that it is capable of employing the appropriate tools at the appropriate time and place, noting that it used two types of mortar shells in Operation Qassam: the small (60 mm, range of 5 kilometers) and the medium (81 mm, range of 7 kilometers), after careful guidance and calibration.
Al-Duwairi pointed out that Netzarim was imposed as a buffer zone between the north and south of the Gaza Strip, and the occupation built roads in it with international specifications, and has 3 main sites there, and its forces move there permanently and daily.
Regarding his prediction for the future of military operations in the Strip, the military expert believes that the battle of Rafah is nearing its end, and then there will be a transition to a new phase entitled raids and carrying out surgical and selective operations, but different in terms of intensity and time frame.
He added that the stage of the raids is linked to finding a political solution, “and the Gaza battle cannot be resolved militarily, and Hamas will remain with the recognition of the leadership of the occupation army.”
The Netzarim Corridor is a road extending from the eastern Gaza Strip to the Mediterranean Sea, and Hamas has made the Israeli withdrawal from the region a central demand in the ceasefire negotiations.
In the same context, the Israeli occupation army announced early this month its control of the Philadelphia axis separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which is 14.5 km long.
