Israeli Forces Fully Encircle Rafah
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Israel’s military has fully encircled the southern Gaza city of Rafah, cutting it off from the rest of the enclave as part of what it calls a "security zone," after completing the construction of the Morag Corridor.
The Israeli army announced on Friday that it had completed the construction of the Morag Corridor.
The corridor severs Rafah from the remainder of the Gaza Strip, isolating the city entirely.
According to the military, the move is an operational step aimed at limiting the movement of Hamas.
However, some analysts suggest the corridor aligns with broader strategic goals. “This is classic medieval siege warfare in 2025,” said Robert Geist Pinfold, a lecturer in international security at King’s College London, speaking to Al Jazeera.
“On the other hand, I think there’s a more worrying long-term strategic logic to this.”
Pinfold argued that Israel has consistently sought to control Gaza’s borders.
“Israel has always sought to control the Gaza Strip, particularly to oversee what comes in and what comes out and ‘security’ over the territories, as Israel would call it,” he said.
He noted that corridors like Morag, Netzarim, and Philadelphi are named after former Israeli settlements.
“The settlements did not appear there randomly. They were put there for this specific purpose: to cut off Gaza’s urban areas and give Israel the ability to squeeze the territory when and if it desires,” Pinfold said.
The humanitarian toll continues to rise amid the ongoing genocidal war.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that at least 50,912 Palestinians have been killed and 115,981 injured since the start of Israel’s military campaign.
The Government Media Office in Gaza updated the death toll to more than 61,700, citing thousands of people still missing under the rubble and presumed dead.
