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Israel vows to fight Hamas all the way to Gaza's southern border. That's fueling tension with Egypt
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FILE - Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip play next to the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. Israel and Egypt are engaged in an increasingly public spat over a narrow strip of land between Egypt and Gaza. That strip is the Philadelpi Corridor. The dispute puts Israel in a bind. If it stops its military offensive against Hamas without taking control of the southern Gaza city Rafah on the border with Egypt, it falls short on its top war goal of crushing the Islamic militants. If its military pushes south to the border, it risks undermining its peace deal with Egypt and likely upsetting its closest ally, the United States. The Egypt-Israel peace deal has been a pillar of stability in a turbulent Middle East. - photo by AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File
CAIRO (AP) — Israel faces a growing risk of damaging its peace with neighboring Egypt as its military pushes the offensive against Hamas further south in the Gaza Strip. Already, the two sides are in a dispute over a narrow strip of land between Egypt and Gaza. Israeli leaders say that to complete their destruction of Hamas, they must eventually widen their offensive to Gaza’s southernmost town, Rafah, and take control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a tiny buffer zone on the border with Egypt that is demilitarized under the two countries’ 1979 peace accord.