Israel also deepened its incursion into the southern Gaa city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands have been seeking shelter from fighting, and where intensifying violence in recent days has killed doens of Palestinians.
The military said that a fifth brigade – up to several thousand soldiers – joined troops operating in the city on Tuesday.
Egypt says any increase in troops in the strategic border area would violate the countries’ 1979 peace accord. It already has complained about Israel taking over the Rafah border crossing, the only crossing between Gaa and Egypt.
“The Philadelphi Corridor served as the oxygen line of Hamas through which Hamas carried out weapons smuggling into Gaa on a regular basis,” Israel’s military chief spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday.
An Israeli military official said Israel had notified Egypt of the takeover. Some 20 tunnels, including some previously unknown to Israel, were found, as well as 82 access points to the tunnels, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations. It was not clear if the tunnels were currently in use.
The corridor is part of a larger demilitarised one along the entire Israel-Egypt border.
Under the peace accord, each side is allowed to deploy only a small number of troops or border guards in the one, though those numbers can be modified by mutual agreement. At the time of the accord, Israeli troops controlled Gaa, until Israel withdrew its forces and settlers in 2005.
Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News TV reported there were “no communications with the Israeli side” on the allegations of finding tunnels on the border. Egypt has repeatedly expressed concerns that the Israeli offensive could push Palestinians across the border – a scenario Egypt says is unacceptable.
The narrow corridor – about 100 metres wide in parts – runs the 14km (8.6-mile) length of the Gaa side of the border with Egypt and includes the Rafah crossing into Egypt.
Hamas has had free rein of the border since its 2007 takeover of Gaa.
Smuggling tunnels were dug under the Gaa-Egypt border to get around the Israeli-Egyptian blockade, imposed after Hamas took over.
Some of the tunnels were large enough for vehicles. Hamas brought in weapons and supplies, and Gaa residents smuggled in commercial goods, from livestock to construction materials.
That changed over the past decade, as Egypt battled Islamic militants in Sinai. The Egyptian military cracked down on the tunnels and destroyed hundreds of them.
The Israeli military official said Israel has also taken “tactical control” of Tel al-Sultan, a neighbourhood on Rafah’s northwest edge. But he said the incursion into the city remains a “limited scope and scale operation”.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said seiure of the Philadelphi Corridor would be consistent with the “limited” ground operation Israeli officials briefed President Joe Biden’s team on for the city of Rafah.
“When they briefed us on their plans for Rafah it did include moving along that corridor and out of the city proper to put pressure on Hamas in the city,” Kirby told reporters Wednesday.
Earlier Wednesday, a top Israeli official said the war was likely to last through the end of the year – a grim prediction for a conflict that has killed tens of thousands, deepened Israel’s global isolation and brought the region to the brink of a wider conflagration.
Israel’s national security adviser, Tachi Hanegbi, told Kan public radio he was “expecting another seven months of fighting” to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group.
The army has said from the start the “war will be long,” he said. “They have designated 2024 as a year of war.”
Hanegbi’s remarks raise questions about the future of Gaa and what role Israel will play in it.
Amerika Serikat, sekutu utama Israel, telah menuntut agar Perdana Menteri Benjamin Netanyahu memutuskan visi pasca-perang untuk wilayah Palestina. Menteri pertahanan Netanyahu dan mitra pemerintahan utama telah memperingatkan dia harus mengambil langkah-langkah untuk memastikan bahwa Israel tidak macet di Gaa tanpa batas waktu.
Perang telah menghancurkan lanskap perkotaan Gaa, membuat sebagian besar penduduknya mengungsi dan memicu bencana kemanusiaan dan kelaparan yang meluas.
Ini telah membuka Israel untuk pengawasan hukum internasional, dengan pengadilan dunia menyalahkannya atas perilaku masa perangnya, memicu ketidaksepakatan dengan Gedung Putih, dan pada hari Selasa mendorong tiga negara Eropa untuk secara resmi mengakui negara Palestina.
Israel mengatakan harus membongkar batalyon terakhir Hamas yang tersisa di Rafah dan akan mencari kontrol keamanan tanpa batas atas Jalur Gaa, bahkan setelah perang berakhir.
Namun, mereka belum mencapai tujuan utamanya untuk membongkar Hamas dan mengembalikan sejumlah sandera yang ditangkap dalam serangan Hamas pada 7 Oktober yang memicu perang.
Di luar Rafah, pasukan Israel masih memerangi militan di beberapa bagian Gaa yang menurut militer telah merebut kendali berbulan-bulan yang lalu – tanda-tanda potensial pemberontakan tingkat rendah yang dapat membuat pasukan Israel terlibat di wilayah tersebut.
Pertempuran di Rafah telah membuat 1 juta orang mengungsi, kata PBB, yang sebagian besar sudah mengungsi dari bagian lain Gaa.
Warga mengatakan pertempuran sedang berlangsung di pusat kota dan di pinggiran Tel al-Sultan, lingkungan yang sama di mana serangan Israel selama akhir pekan memicu kebakaran yang melanda sebuah perkemahan untuk orang-orang terlantar, menewaskan doens.
Israel mengatakan sedang menyelidiki dan blae mungkin disebabkan oleh ledakan sekunder.
AS dan sekutu lainnya telah memperingatkan terhadap serangan penuh di Rafah, dengan pemerintahan Biden mengatakan ini akan melewati “garis merah” dan menolak untuk memberikan senjata ofensif untuk upaya semacam itu. Namun sejauh ini, mereka belum mencoba menghentikan kemajuan Israel.
Pekan lalu, Mahkamah Internasional memerintahkan Israel untuk menghentikan serangan Rafah sebagai bagian dari kasus Afrika Selatan yang menuduh Israel melakukan genosida terhadap warga Palestina di Gaa, tuduhan yang dibantah Israel.
Perang dimulai ketika militan menyerbu ke Israel selatan pada 7 Oktober, menewaskan sekitar 1.200 orang, kebanyakan dari mereka warga sipil, dan mengambil sekitar 250 sandera. Lebih dari 100 dibebaskan selama gencatan senjata November dengan imbalan warga Palestina yang dipenjara oleh Israel.
Serangan Israel dalam menanggapi serangan itu telah menewaskan sedikitnya 36.096 warga Palestina, menurut Kementerian Kesehatan Gaa, yang tidak membedakan antara pejuang dan warga sipil. Israel mengatakan telah membunuh 15.000 militan.