UAE–Israel Land Corridor

The label “UAE–Israel land corridor” is used for related but distinct road and rail concepts. Existing overland freight traffic between Gulf ports and Israel predates the Abraham Accords and expanded afterward, while Trucknet later announced a dedicated commercial arrangement and a ten-truck pilot was publicly reported.[8][5] A separate road proposal sought continuous travel by one truck and driver across participating countries, requiring shared vehicle standards and recognition of drivers' licenses.[9]

These road operations are not the same as the earlier “Tracks for Regional Peace” rail proposal or IMEC. The former envisioned a rail link from Israel through the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and Jordan toward Saudi Arabia and the UAE; IMEC is a wider planned ship-to-rail, energy, and digital-infrastructure network.[10][6] The sources therefore support treating the operational trucking, proposed seamless road system, and planned rail corridors as connected but separate initiatives.

The idea of an overland connection between the Gulf and Israel predates the Abraham Accords. As early as August 2019, the Israeli Foreign Ministry proposed a rail line linking Israel with Saudi Arabia and the UAE via Judea and Samaria and Jordan, with a major appeal being the bypassing of the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab chokepoints.[10] The Israel–UAE peace treaty of 2020 subsequently included provisions committing both parties to promote cooperation on strategic regional infrastructure and to explore a multilateral working group for the "Tracks for Regional Peace" project.[10]

On June 29, 2021, Israel and the UAE signed an Agreement on Economic and Trade Cooperation, committing to the free flow of goods and services and cooperation on trade fairs, regulation, and private-sector activity.[11] That was followed in May 2022 by a free-trade agreement covering approximately 96% of bilateral trade, then valued at roughly $1 billion annually; officials projected that trade could exceed $10 billion within five years.[11]

Land transport between the Gulf and Israel via Saudi Arabia and Jordan is documented as predating the Abraham Accords, though it increased markedly afterward.[8] UAE-origin trucks were already reaching Haifa via the Allenby Bridge before any formally organized corridor existed, though they faced driver and license-plate changes, bureaucratic procedures, and lengthy waits at border crossings.[9]

The corridor, as described in contemporaneous reporting, carries cargo from ports in Dubai or Bahrain across Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Haifa.[2] At Israeli border crossings, some cargo is handled using a "Back to Back Trucking" method, in which goods are transferred between Jordanian and Israeli trucks at the border.[5] A separate, more ambitious variant proposed that one truck and one driver complete the entire journey without changing vehicles or drivers at borders, using existing roads with some upgrades and requiring participating countries to agree on truck standards and mutual recognition of drivers' licenses.[9]

In December 2023, Trucknet Enterprise announced a cooperation agreement with Emirati firm PureTrans FZCO and Dubai port operator DP World for a two-way truck route linking Gulf ports with Haifa.[12][13] Trucknet also formed a partnership with an Egyptian transport company for a route involving Jebel Ali and ports along the Suez Canal.[8] The company described the Gulf-to-Haifa route as an express or emergency alternative, not a permanent replacement for the Suez Canal, and said it had obtained permission from Israel's Ministry of Defense to operate the special route.[8][2]

By February 2024, commercial freight firms were reported to be moving goods from Dubai and Bahrain overland to Israel at a scale of dozens of trucks per day.[14] Ships from China and India unloaded containers at Dubai or Bahrain; Mentfield Logistics' account identified the King Hussein crossing as the point where Israeli trucks took over. Separate Trucknet coverage discussed the Jordan River/Sheikh Hussein crossing as a capacity constraint, and the two names should not be treated as interchangeable.[14][2] Reported cargo included textiles, electronics, industrial raw materials, metal pipes, and aluminum.[14] Trucknet's digital marketplace was designed to match transport companies with importers and find return cargo for the same containers, improving truck utilization and reducing per-unit costs.[8]

The Washington Institute reported that the corridor, linking Haifa through Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain to the UAE, was equipped to handle up to 350 trucks per day — a stated capacity figure rather than a reported daily count.[1] Trucknet's founder separately said the company's own maximum capacity was 300 trucks per day.[15] Calcalist Tech estimated that approximately 40,000 trucks crossed at the Jordan River crossing in 2023, characterizing this traffic as a small share of total goods arriving in Israel.[16]

Reported cost and time figures for the overland route vary depending on origin, destination, and the maritime scenario used for comparison. Trucknet's founder said a Gulf-to-Haifa trip that takes roughly 14 days by sea took four days by land.[2] The Dubai-to-Haifa land distance was reported at approximately 2,550 km and four days of travel time, while the Bahrain-to-Haifa route was reported at 1,700 km and two days and seven hours.[13] A Foreign Ministry planning study estimated that the proposed route could reduce transport times from several weeks to two or three days and save up to 20% in shipping costs — figures representing planning estimates, not operational performance data.[9]

For cargo rerouted from the Africa detour, Mentfield Logistics CEO Omer Izhari said the overland route took 20–25 days from China to Israel rather than 50–60 days via the Cape of Good Hope, saving roughly 20 days.[14] One account put the overland route at approximately 10–12% more expensive than the conventional sea route, while a December 2023 report placed trucking costs at around $1.20 per kilometer and noted that this was then cheaper than prevailing freight rates during the maritime disruption.[2][13]

Globes reported approximate fuel costs of $3,200 for a truck journey from the UAE to Israel and $2,200 from Bahrain, plus tolls of roughly $300 in Saudi Arabia, $300 in Jordan, and $70 in Israel. After also accounting for port charges and maritime shipping to Dubai or Bahrain, it estimated that a Shanghai-to-Haifa container could cost approximately $5,800 via the UAE or $4,800 via Bahrain.[8] The route was characterized as particularly suited to higher-value cargo for which delivery speed outweighed the cost premium.

Israeli Tax Authority data cited by Globes showed that land imports from the UAE in 2023 reached NIS 23.2 million as of December 24, representing about 2% of total imports from the UAE — compared with 2.4% in 2022 and 2.8% in 2021 — while sea imports from the UAE in the same year totaled NIS 1.11 billion.[8]

The corridor's commercial profile rose sharply after Houthi forces began firing missiles at Israel and at Red Sea shipping on October 19, 2023.[3] By mid-December 2023, three major international shipping companies had announced that they would no longer transit the Suez Canal and Red Sea, and more than 2,000 ships had been forced to change course before U.S.-U.K. strikes against Houthi infrastructure in January 2024.[3] A January 2024 Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs analysis reported an 85% reduction in activity at Israel's Eilat Port amid the attacks.[4]

Trucknet's founder said demand for the overland route rose sharply after the Houthi campaign began, and the Begin-Sadat Center noted that the pilot truck run was conducted as an alternative for shipping companies avoiding the Red Sea and Suez Canal.[5][15] The Institute for National Security Studies characterized the overland route through Jordan as a "land bridge" established during the war as an alternative trade route to the Suez Canal.[17]

The operating truck corridor is distinct from, but conceptually intertwined with, the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a multi-government initiative announced in September 2023. A memorandum of understanding signed that month described IMEC as comprising two planned sections: an eastern corridor connecting India to the Arabian Gulf and a northern corridor connecting the Gulf to Europe.[6] The proposed infrastructure included a railway supplementing maritime and road transport, along with electricity and digital-connectivity cables and a clean-hydrogen pipeline.[6] Participating governments committed to work on route implementation and coordinating technical, design, financing, legal, and regulatory arrangements; the memorandum explicitly noted that its terms "do not create rights or obligations under international law" and called for a follow-up meeting within 60 days to develop an action plan.[6]

A September 2024 U.S.-UAE leaders' statement described IMEC as connecting India to Europe through ship-to-rail links via the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel, and onward to Europe through Greece, projecting benefits including economic growth, lower costs, expanded electricity access, clean-energy distribution, stronger telecommunications, and improved supply chains.[18] In July 2026 congressional testimony, IMEC was described as stretching from Mumbai to Marseille but remaining stalled following October 7, 2023, while the United States and regional partners worked to keep it alive.[7]

The Begin-Sadat Center distinguished the truck pilot from IMEC, noting that IMEC is a broader planned system including proposed rail links whose exact route had not yet been fully disclosed, while the truck route represents a separate, more immediately operational effort.[5] Trucknet's founder described eventual electric-train connections from the Sheikh Hussein crossing to Haifa, and a possible railway link between Jebel Ali and Haifa, as long-term plans under negotiation with an Israeli rail company — not operational infrastructure.[2]

The corridor's existence and scope have been subjects of political sensitivity and conflicting official statements. In December 2023, the Jordanian Transportation Ministry denied that cargo was being transported through Jordan for the route, even as contemporaneous reporting described the first ten-truck pilot as having completed the journey through Saudi Arabia and Jordan.[13] Jordan separately published a denial that a specifically announced Gulf-to-Israel land bridge through Jordanian territory existed, while the Institute for National Security Studies documented public protests inside Jordan against the trade and characterized Jordanian policy as allowing the traffic to continue despite domestic criticism.[8][17]

A further operational ambiguity concerns Saudi Arabia's role. A logistics executive said cargo transiting Saudi territory was handled as goods in transit and was not tracked as Israeli goods before reaching Haifa, asserting that the Saudi government would not permit goods identified as Israeli to pass through.[14] No Saudi government confirmation of this arrangement was reported in the available sources.

A March 2024 report said the UAE threatened to halt the land trade bridge unless more humanitarian aid entered Gaza, though the same article did not establish that a suspension actually occurred or detail any subsequent resumption.[19] The combination of active commercial trucking, official denials by transit states, and diplomatic pressure from the UAE illustrates the politically contested character of what the reviewed sources portray as an informal and commercially operated arrangement rather than a formally acknowledged intergovernmental corridor.