Israeli Troops Withdraw From Key Gaza Corridor

A Hamas official said Israeli troops completed their withdrawal on Sunday from a strategic corridor cutting through the Gaza Strip, part of a fragile truce deal that Israel said it was implementing.

- Agencies

GAZA CITY:

Israel agreed as part of the truce to remove its forces from the 6km Netzarim corridor, a strip of land that bisects northern Gaza from the south that Israel used as a military zone during the war.

"Israeli forces have dismantled their positions and military posts and completely withdrawn their tanks from the Netzarim Corridor on Salaheddin Road, allowing vehicles to pass freely in both directions," an official from the Hamas-run interior ministry said.

AFP journalists saw no troops in the area on Sunday as cars, buses, pickup trucks and donkey carts travelled along the road from both the north and south, crossing the Netzarim Corridor where an Israeli checkpoint used to stand.

According to a senior Hamas official, the Israeli withdrawal from Netzarim had been scheduled for Sunday under the terms of a truce that took effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of war.