Israel and Egypt are negotiating the future of a corridor between Egypt and Gaza that Israel says has been used by Hamas to smuggle weapons and people through underground tunnels and is key to destroying the militant group. The corridor is a roughly 9-mile-long buffer running the length of the Gaza frontier with Egypt. The security buffer was initially established by the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and was controlled by Israel to prevent the movement of weapons and goods between Egypt and Gaza. But Israel relinquished that control to Egypt and Palestinian authorities after Israel unilaterally pulled out from Gaza in 2005. The negotiations with Egypt come as Israel focuses its war against Hamas on the southern part of the enclave.

Source: Wall Street Journal January 07, 2024 11:57 UTC