Tel Aviv/Cairo, 9 February 2025 (dpa/MIA) – Following the latest hostage-for-prisoner exchange under the current ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli military has withdrawn from the strategic Netzarim Corridor in the Gaza Strip, according to media reports on Sunday.

This corridor divides the coastal strip into northern and southern halves.

Israeli Army Radio reported that the military had completely left the area, though there has not yet been any official confirmation.

Israeli security sources stated only that preparations were underway to implement the agreement. Hamas has called the withdrawal a victory.

Israel had already begun withdrawing from parts of the Netzarim Corridor after the current ceasefire with Hamas took effect on January 19. Under the agreement, the army was expected to vacate the area entirely, except for a one-kilometre-wide buffer zone along the Israeli border.

This withdrawal is meant to facilitate the return of displaced Palestinians from the south to their devastated northern home towns in larger numbers.

Cairo to host meeting on Gaza's future

Meanwhile, Egypt said on Sunday it would host an emergency Arab summit later this month, after US President Donald Trump floated a plan to takeover the Gaza Strip and displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the war-devastated territory to other countries.

The summit will be held in Cairo on February 27 to discuss the "latest and serious developments" of the Palestinian issue, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement.

Following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House last week, Trump said the US would take over Gaza, which he said could become "the Riviera of the Middle East."

He did not say how he would relocate some 2 million Palestinians from their land or where they would go, though he had previously asked Egypt and Jordan to take them in. Both countries, as well as many other Arab and Western nations, rejected and criticized Trump's idea.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. Egypt along with the US and Qatar brokered the current ceasefire deal.

Hostage families criticize Israeli ceasefire approach

Relatives of hostages still being held in Gaza have accused Israel’s government of lacking determination in the ceasefire talks.

They criticized the limited mandate given to the Israeli delegation sent to Qatar and warned against a resumption of the war.

A three-phase ceasefire agreement that went into effect on January 19 aims to achieve a permanent end to the fighting and the release of all hostages still being held by the Iran-backed Hamas militia and their extremist allies.

During this initial six-week stage, 33 Israeli hostages are due to be released in exchange for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons. Hamas has said that eight of the 33 hostages on the list are dead. It is unclear who exactly they are.

MIA file photo