Gaza media reported on Saturday that the IDF carried out an extensive wave of airstrikes in the Rafah area, including near the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border. The attacks targeted Hamas' underground infrastructure, which the IDF estimated was located beneath the Egypt-Gaza corridor.
An IDF statement on Saturday evening confirmed that the IDF and Shin Bet had carried out attacks in the area. It said the attacks hit Islamic Jihad militants and terrorist infrastructure, adding that no damage was caused to the nearby hospital.
The Philadelphia Corridor and the border between Gaza and Egypt are at the heart of the dispute between Jerusalem and Cairo. According to reports, the key agreement is that Israel will operate in the Rafah region, but only after a full-scale evacuation of the Gaza Strip's population of about one million people living there.
Palestinians assess the damage from an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 18, 2024 (Source: ABED RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90)
Reports on Gulf States' support in stopping arms smuggling
The Philadelphia Corridor is problematic for Israel because it is where weapons are smuggled from Egypt into Gaza and thus into the hands of Hamas. In 2005, the government authorized the withdrawal of IDF forces from the corridor to the Kerem Shalom area. The section between the Gaza Strip and Kerem Shalom came under Egyptian control, and the Rafah area came under the control of the Palestinian Authority; Weapons smuggling increased in the wake of this transfer of power.
It has been reported that an as yet unnamed Gulf Arab state will fund an underground wall to prevent drug traffickers from smuggling illegal weapons through tunnels from Egypt to Gaza. The Gulf state agreed to provide the funds for this, but only on the condition that the entire process would be fully approved by Egypt.