Kelly Campa, Carolyn Moorman, Siddhant Kishore, Johanna Moore, Alexandra Braverman, Katherine Wells, Ben Rezaei, Annika Ganzeveld, Avery Borens, Victoria Penza, and Nicholas Carl

Information Cutoff: 2:00pm ET

Click here to view ISW–CTP's Gaza Control-of-Terrain map and here for our interactive control-of-terrain map of Syria.

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CTP-ISW has recorded no verifiable reports of kinetic activity in the Gaza Strip or attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel since the last data cut off on January 22.

Israel and Hamas appear to have agreed to allow Gazans to return from the southern to the northern Gaza Strip. This agreement may prevent Hamas and other Palestinian militias from moving large quantities of weapons and fighters to the northern Gaza Strip. A multinational consortium led by US and Egyptian contractors will oversee the movement of Gazans to the northern Gaza Strip. Unspecified Israeli officials told Axios on January 23 that Israel and Hamas agreed to establish a multinational consortium to oversee vehicle movement through the Netzarim Corridor. The consortium will include two United States-based private security firms and an Egyptian company. The consortium will establish a vehicle checkpoint on Salah al Din Road at the corridor once the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdraws from the area. Hamas will likely try to move materiel and resources to the northern Gaza Strip via Salah al Din Road, which the vehicle checkpoint should prevent. Hamas announced that Gazans can return to the northern Gaza Strip on foot via al Rashid Road — the coastal road that connects the northern and southern Gaza Strip—after the IDF withdraws from there. The ceasefire agreement requires the IDF to withdraw from al Rashid Road by January 25. Hamas will likely try to move fighters and weapons via al Rashid Road to the northern Gaza Strip. Hamas fighters who transit al Rashid Road on foot will not be able to carry large weaponry or large amounts of ammunition, however.

Key Takeaways:

• Turkey and Syria: Turkey has reportedly made an agreement with imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan to disarm the PKK. Ocalan will reportedly publicly call on the PKK to “lay down arms” on February 15.

• SDF Negotiations: The Syrian Interim Defense Minister said that the interim government is continuing to negotiate with the SDF but that “if we have to use force, we will be ready.” His comment is the most explicit threat an interim government official has made to use military action against the SDF.

• HTS Deployment: The HTS-led Department of Military Operations seized a swath of strategically significant territory near the Zamla oil field, south of Raqqa, in the Syrian Badia on January 23. The Department of Military Operations forces deployed to a strategically significant position, from which they could pressure the SDF salient south of Lake Assad.

• Iraq: The integration of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias into the Iraqi security establishment must be predicated on a commitment by the militias to stop abiding by Iranian orders and a commitment by the Iraqi federal government to respond to any militia attack on US or allied interests in the Middle East.

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