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.

"It took 20 years to build a house and within five minutes they destroyed all my dreams and my children's dreams," he said from Gaza City, where he now shelters.

Israel's bombardment and ground offensives throughout the war have left vast swaths of Gaza'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 'kill' zone The 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 "kill zone" 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.

"I came there because they kill us and now we're going to kill them. And I found out that we're not only killing them. We're killing them, we're killing their wives, their children, their cats, their dogs, and we destroyed their houses," he said. The army said its attacks are based on intelligence and that it avoids "as much as possible, harm to non-combatants. "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 Trump's call to move Palestinians from Gaza, what Israel calls "voluntary emigration.

"Some Israel analysts say the purpose of the buffer zone isn't to occupy Gaza, but to secure it until Hamas is dismantled. "This is something that any sane country will do with regard to its borders when the state borders a hostile entity," said Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at two Israeli think tanks, the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute. But rights group say forcibly displacing people is a potential war crime and crime against humanity. Within Gaza's buffer zones, specifically, it amounts to "ethnic cleansing," 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. Associated Press reporter Michael Biesecker contributed from Washington.

AP

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Israel controls 50% of Gaza as Palestinians get squeezed into shrinking wedges of land