The withdrawal from the hall, which reduce off northern Gaza from the remainder of the Strip, is a part of the Hamas-Israel ceasefire deal.
The Israeli army has accomplished its withdrawal from Gaza’s Netzarim Hall – a requirement below section one of many ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas agreed final month.
“Israeli forces have dismantled their positions and army posts and utterly withdrawn their tanks from the Netzarim Hall on Salaheddin Highway, permitting automobiles to go freely in each instructions,” a Hamas official mentioned on Sunday, referring to Salah al-Din Road.
The so-called Netzarim Hall refers to a strip of land that reduce off northern Gaza from the remainder of the Strip. In response to the ceasefire settlement, the deadline for withdrawal was February 9.
The complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the hall passed off a day after Hamas and Israel carried out their fifth captive-prisoner swap, which noticed the Palestinian group launch three Israeli captives in trade for 183 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
In an announcement, Hamas mentioned Israel’s full withdrawal from the hall indicators a “continuation of the failure of the targets of the struggle of extermination in opposition to the Palestinian folks”.
It mentioned the return of displaced Palestinians to their properties and the continuation of the trade of captives and prisoners refutes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “lie” about attaining victory within the 15-month struggle on the enclave.
“Gaza will stay a land liberated by the fingers of its folks and its fighters, and forbidden to the occupying invaders and any exterior drive,” it mentioned.
Israel created the hall originally of its struggle on Gaza. It’s a closed-off army zone that stretches from Israel’s boundary with Gaza to the Mediterranean Sea and is about 6km (3.7 miles) extensive.
The hall was named after Netzarim, the final Israeli settlement to be closed in Gaza in 2005, below the then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Reporting from Doha, Qatar, Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker mentioned the hall was a strategic Israeli army transfer – giving it entry, management and oversight.
“For Palestinians, it was yet one more land seize – a hall of suffocation, assaults and demise. The Israeli military has been accused of taking pictures and killing indiscriminately anybody who dared to return close to,” she mentioned.
“Israeli media have quoted troopers saying they really feel that withdrawing is a failure – abandoning the hall that had develop into an emblem of their energy, their management, and their victory,” she added.
Reporting from northern Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud mentioned the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the hall is a hope for extra free motion for folks within the enclave.
“It is going to be very tough for individuals who have been displaced from this space to return to their properties. It’s laborious to think about the place are they going to remain right here different than simply organising tents right here and there,” he mentioned.
“The hope is now that with the withdrawal of the Israeli army, there’s extra free motion, a circulation of automobiles and support vehicles going all the way in which to the northern a part of the Strip,” he added.
Mouin Rabbani, a non-resident fellow on the Center East Council on World Affairs, advised Al Jazeera the Netzarim Hall “shouldn’t have a future” and “ought to disappear”.
“Israel has not solely occupied what they name the Netzarim Hall, however positioned quite a few buildings there that demonstrated their dedication to take care of a everlasting presence there, to have this capability to bisect the Gaza Strip, to paralyse transportation and motion inside it at will,” he mentioned.
“That has failed as soon as once more, and they’re being compelled to withdraw from the Netzarim Hall and hopefully by no means to return.”
