A 14-kilometre-long buffer border strip separates the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. It represents a strategic security area subject to a bilateral Egyptian-Israeli agreement, and control over which is contested by three powers: Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas).
the site
The Philadelphia Axis is located on the Palestinian territories between the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, along the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip, and extends from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south, where the borders meet between Egypt, the Gaza Strip and the occupying state.
The axis forms a buffer strip between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. It is about 14 kilometers long and a few hundred meters wide. The Rafah land crossing was established on it, which represents the main outlet for Gazans to the outside world.
Israeli control
The buffer zone, the “Philadelphia Axis,” which is known in Palestine as the “Salah al-Din Axis,” appeared following the Camp David Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979, which stipulated the establishment of a buffer zone along the border between the two parties.
According to the agreement, the border area located on the Palestinian territories, which was called (D), is subject to the control of the Israeli forces, which were identified according to the agreement with infantry battalions, up to 180 armored vehicles of all types, and a crew of 4,000 members, in addition to military installations and fortifications. Field.
The agreement prohibited the presence of any Egyptian armed forces on the Egyptian lands adjacent to the Palestinian border called (C), and only allowed the Egyptian civil police to perform regular police duties with light weapons.
Israeli forces remained in control of the region until Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in mid-August 2005 and handed it over to the Palestinian Authority, which granted supervision of the border areas and crossings, with observers from the European Union.
The “disengagement” plan stipulated that Israel would maintain “a military presence along the border line separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt (Philadelphia axis)” in the first phase, in order to provide security protection, which may require expanding the area in which military activities take place. The agreement made the evacuation of… The region is conditional on the security reality and Egyptian cooperation in reaching a reliable agreement.
Deployment of Egyptian forces
In September 2005, the “Philadelphia Agreement” was signed between Israel and Egypt, which Israel considers a security annex to the 1979 peace treaty, and says is governed by its general principles and provisions.
The Philadelphia Agreement includes the deployment of Egyptian forces on the border separating the Gaza Strip. These forces are estimated at about 750 Egyptian border guard soldiers, and their mission revolves only in combating so-called terrorism, cross-border infiltration, smuggling, and detecting tunnels.
According to the agreement, the presence of 4 companies of the Egyptian forces, armed with light weapons, was limited to 504 automatic rifles, 9 sniper rifles, 94 pistols, 67 machine guns, 27 RPG missiles, 31 police armored vehicles, 44 jeeps, and 4 ships in the maritime border area for surveillance. 8 unarmed helicopters for aerial reconnaissance, and 3 radar devices to detect intruders.
According to the agreement, the Egyptian forces are prohibited from establishing fortifications and weapons depots, as well as military-style intelligence gathering equipment. The Egyptian forces are subject to the supervision of the multinational forces present in Sinai. The agreement also imposed periodic meetings between the Egyptian party and officers from the Israeli army, and the exchange of intelligence information. Conduct an annual evaluation of the implementation of the agreement.
The Philadelphia Tunnels are a lifeline
In 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, and the Philadelphia axis came under its control. Israel imposed a stifling siege on the Strip, which forced the Palestinians to cross the border strip towards Egypt to obtain food, drink, and basic materials for their lives, and as a result, the Egyptian forces imposed their control on Philadelphia.
With the tightening of the siege on the Gaza Strip for years, the Gazans dug hundreds of tunnels under the Philadelphia axis, and the tunnels formed a lifeline for the residents, who were suffering from the burden of deprivation of their basic needs, which they were deprived of due to the siege. Israel, for its part, attacked the region with the aim of destroying the tunnels, which it claims are used to smuggle weapons and explosive materials. .
The period that extended during the period of the revolution of January 25, 2011 and during the rule of the late President Mohamed Morsi, witnessed a easing of security in the border areas between the Gaza Strip and Sinai, which allowed Gazans to easily move across the buffer strip to and from Egypt, which raised the ire of the Israeli official authorities, amid… Popular demands for Israel to restore control over Philadelphia.
Following the military coup that overthrew Morsi in the summer of 2013, the Egyptian authorities tightened their grip on the region, built a steel wall, and used the pretext of preventing the infiltration of militants and extremists into its territory, while the Hamas movement bulldozed border areas and installed barbed wire.
In the period between October 2014 and November 2017, Egypt removed the residential area in Egyptian Rafah, and dug a transverse canal from the sea coast in the north to the Rafah crossing in the south, to establish a border buffer zone extending for about 5 kilometers with the aim of eliminating the Philadelphia axis tunnels.
Change the balance
Following the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, which took place on October 7, 2023, the balance changed, as Israel began to encircle the Gaza Strip from all sides and tighten the noose on the resistance, and the Philadelphia axis became one of the most important strategic areas targeted in the Israeli plan to isolate the Strip. Air strikes began bombing the border line separating Egypt and Gaza.
On December 13, 2023, the Israeli occupation forces launched an exceptional attack along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, under the pretext of destroying the tunnels used by the resistance to smuggle weapons, while the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation revealed the Israeli government’s intention to control the Philadelphia axis, by leaking statements to Netanyahu. Before a closed meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee in the Knesset.
On December 23, 2023, the occupation army repeated the action, through a short maneuver in the border area between the Kerem Shalom crossing and Rafah, then retreated after a violent clash with the resistance.
As part of its ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, the occupation forces targeted the crossings on the Philadelphia axis, where the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing was subjected to Israeli attacks several times, and the Kerem Shalom crossing was bombed, killing 4 Palestinians.
Egyptian concern
The Israeli attacks targeted positions within meters of the Egyptian border, which caused tension in relations between Israel and Egypt, especially after the occupation bombed an Egyptian watchtower with a tank in October 2023, and the occupation claimed that the bombing came by mistake.
The strikes raised Egyptian concern, and the occupation authorities warned against carrying out military operations in the “Philadelphia Axis”, which is considered a buffer zone with security privacy, and is subject to bilateral agreements, which require obtaining prior permission from the other party before carrying out any military actions there.
The Egyptian authorities reject the presence of any Israeli forces in the Philadelphia axis adjacent to the Egyptian border, as Israel has no right – according to the agreements signed between the two sides – to violate the existing security arrangements without the approval of Egypt, which confirmed that it destroyed all the tunnels that were used for smuggling between it and the Gaza Strip, and prevented the entry of materials. Banned entry into the Gaza Strip, and denied Israel’s allegations that the resistance used the border line to carry out its operations and smuggle weapons into the country.
Egypt also reinforced its forces following the Israeli attacks on the Philadelphia axis, and with many displaced persons heading to the city of Rafah and the border areas, it increased barriers and fortified the vicinity of the watchtowers and various military sites in the buffer zone.