Israel has dramatically expanded its footprint in the Gaza Strip since relaunching its war against Hamas last month. It now controls more than 50% of the territory and is squeezing Palestinians into shrinking wedges of land.The largest contiguous area the army controls is around the Gaza border, where the military has razed Palestinian homes, farmland and infrastructure to the point of uninhabitability, according to Israeli soldiers and rights groups. This military buffer zone has doubled in size in recent weeks.Israel has depicted its tightening grip as a temporary necessity to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that started the war. But the land Israel holds, which includes a corridor that divides the territory's north from south, could be used for wielding long-term control, human rights groups and Gaza experts say.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that even after Hamas is defeated, Israel will keep security control in Gaza and push Palestinians to leave.The demolition close to the Israeli border and the systematic expansion of the buffer zone has been going on since the war began 18 months ago, five Israeli soldiers told The Associated Press.맥스카지노�They destroyed everything they could, they shot everything that looks functioning ... (the Palestinians) will have nothing to come back, they will not come back, never,맥스카지노� a soldier deployed with a tank squad guarding the demolition teams said. He and four other soldiers spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.Video below: Footage appears to contradict Israel's account in troops' killing of 15 Palestinian medicsA report documenting the accounts of soldiers who were in the buffer zone was released Monday by Breaking The Silence, an anti-occupation veterans group. A handful of soldiers described watching the army turn the zone into a vast wasteland.맥스카지노�Through widespread, deliberate destruction, the military laid the groundwork for future Israeli control of the area,맥스카지노� said the group.Asked about the soldiers맥스카지노� accounts, the Israeli army said it is acting to protect its country and especially to improve security in southern communities devastated by the Oct. 7 attack, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. The army said it does not seek to harm civilians in Gaza, and that it abides by international law.Carving Gaza into sectionsIn the early days of the war, Israeli troops forced Palestinians from communities near the border and destroyed the land to create a buffer zone 0.62 miles deep, according to Breaking The Silence.Its troops also seized a swath of land across Gaza known as the Netzarim Corridor that isolated the north, including Gaza City, from the rest of the narrow, coastal strip, home to more than 2 million people.When Israel resumed the war last month, it doubled the size of the buffer zone, pushing it as far as 1.8 miles into Gaza in some places, according to a map issued by the military.The buffer zone and the Netzarim Corridor make up at least 50% of the strip, said Yaakov Garb, a professor of environmental studies at Ben Gurion University, who has been examining Israeli-Palestinian land use patterns for decades.Last week, Netanyahu said Israel intends to create another corridor that slices across southern Gaza, cutting off the city of Rafah from the rest of the territory. Israel맥스카지노�s control of Gaza is even greater taking into account areas where it recently ordered civilians to evacuate ahead of planned attacks.Video below: Many Palestinians are leaving their homes in the West Bank as Israeli settlers move inNeighborhoods turned into rubbleHundreds of thousands of Palestinians used to live in the land that now makes up Israel's buffer zone, an area that was key to Gaza's agricultural output.Satellite images show once-dense neighborhoods turned to rubble, as well as nearly a dozen new Israeli army outposts since the ceasefire ended.When the ceasefire was announced in January, Nidal Alzaanin went back to his home in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. His property stood on the edge of the buffer zone and lay in ruins.All that remains is a photo of him and his wife on their wedding day, a drawing of his son맥스카지노�s face on a porcelain plate and the carcass of a 150-year-old sycamore tree planted by his great-grandfather. His greenhouse was reduced to twisted scraps of metal.The 55-year-old farmer pitched a tent in the rubble, hoping to rebuild his life. But when Israel resumed its campaign and seized his land, he was again uprooted.맥스카지노�It took 20 years to build a house and within five minutes they destroyed all my dreams and my children맥스카지노�s dreams,맥스카지노� he said from Gaza City, where he now shelters.Israel맥스카지노�s bombardment and ground offensives throughout the war have left vast swaths of Gaza맥스카지노�s cities and towns destroyed. But the razing of property inside the buffer zone has been more methodical and extensive, soldiers said.The five soldiers who spoke to the AP said Israeli troops were ordered to destroy farmland, irrigation pipes, crops and trees as well as thousands of buildings, including residential and public structures, so that militants had nowhere to hide.Several soldiers said their units demolished more buildings than they could count, including large industrial complexes. A soda factory was leveled, leaving shards of glass and solar panels strewn on the ground.Soldier alleges buffer zone was a 맥스카지노�kill' zoneThe soldiers said the buffer zone had no marked boundaries, but that Palestinians who entered were shot at.The soldier with the tank squad said an armored bulldozer flattened land creating a 맥스카지노�kill zone맥스카지노� and that anyone who came within 500 meters of the tanks would be shot, including women and children.Visibly shaken, he said many of the soldiers acted out of vengeance for the Oct. 7 attack.맥스카지노�I came there because they kill us and now we맥스카지노�re going to kill them. And I found out that we맥스카지노�re not only killing them. We맥스카지노�re killing them, we맥스카지노�re killing their wives, their children, their cats, their dogs, and we destroyed their houses,맥스카지노� he said.The army said its attacks are based on intelligence and that it avoids 맥스카지노�as much as possible, harm to non-combatants.맥스카지노�Long-term hold?It is unclear how long Israel intends to hold the buffer zone and other territory inside Gaza.In announcing the new corridor across southern Gaza, Netanyahu said Israel aims to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, of whom 35 are believed dead. He also said the war can only end when Hamas is destroyed and its leaders leave Gaza, at which point Israel would take control of security in the territory.Then, Netanyahu said, Israel would implement U.S. President Donald Trump맥스카지노�s call to move Palestinians from Gaza, what Israel calls 맥스카지노�voluntary emigration.맥스카지노�Some Israel analysts say the purpose of the buffer zone isn맥스카지노�t to occupy Gaza, but to secure it until Hamas is dismantled. 맥스카지노�This is something that any sane country will do with regard to its borders when the state borders a hostile entity,맥스카지노� said Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at two Israeli think tanks, the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute.But rights groups say forcibly displacing people is a potential war crime and a crime against humanity. Within Gaza맥스카지노�s buffer zones, specifically, it amounts to 맥스카지노�ethnic cleansing,맥스카지노� because it was clear people would never be allowed to return, said Nadia Hardman, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.Israel called the accusations baseless and said it evacuates civilians from combat areas to protect them.