Israel Moves Ground Troops Back Into Gaza Strip

The troop movements further roll back gains Hamas made under a two-month cease-fire

- Summer Said, Anat Peled & Dov Lieber

Israel said it sent ground troops back into the center and south of the Gaza Strip, expanding a military operation that began with airstrikes a day earlier that Palestinian authorities said killed hundreds of people.

Israel said its forces were moving into a corridor that bisects the Gaza Strip across its centerline, aiming to partly split the northern and southern halves of the territory. It said other forces would be positioned in the south and ready to operate in Gaza.

The troop movements further roll back gains Hamas made under a two-month cease-fire and are part of a strategy of gradually ramping up pressure on the U.S.-designated terrorist group.

Israel's military carved out what is called the Netzarim Corridor early in the war and used it to control the movement of Palestinians throughout the enclave. It withdrew in February, leaving it with a small troop presence along Gaza's border with Egypt and in a buffer zone along the border with Israel.

The pullback had allowed displaced Palestinians for the first time in the 17-month war to move with relative ease from tent encampments and other temporary shelters in the south back to their homes, or the remains of their homes, in the north. Enabling that return had been a key demand from Hamas throughout months of negotiations and a major achievement it touted after the cease-fire deal was sealed in January.

When Israel withdrew, Hamas hailed it as a victory that "shattered the illusions" of Israeli military control.

The decision to send troops back into the Netzarim Corridor gives Israel back one of its best negotiating cards with Hamas and puts Israeli troops in a good strategic position for a ground assault against the group, said Yaron Buskila, a lieutenant colonel in Israel's military reserves and chief executive of Israel Defense and Security Forum, a security-oriented think tank.