Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday (4) that Israel will only agree to a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if there is a guarantee that the border between southern Gaza and Egypt will not be used as a route for smuggling weapons and supplies to Hamas.
“Until that happens, we are there,” the prime minister said at a news conference in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu reiterated his rejection of a complete withdrawal from the so-called Philadelphia corridor in the first phase of a deal, expected to last 42 days, saying international pressure would make a return effectively impossible.
For a permanent ceasefire to be agreed, Israel would need guarantees that whoever runs the Gaza Strip after the war would be able to prevent the corridor from being used as a route for smuggling weapons and supplies to Hamas.
“Somebody has to be there. Bring me anybody who can actually show — not on paper, not in words, not on a slide, but day after day, week after week, month after month — that they can actually prevent a recurrence of what happened there before,” the premier said, referring to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
“We are open to considering it, but I don’t see it happening right now,” he added.
Gaza border deal stalled
The Philadelphia corridor, an area along the southern Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, has been one of the main obstacles to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu has insisted on maintaining control of the corridor, where Israeli troops have discovered dozens of tunnels that officials say were used to supply weapons and ammunition to Hamas.
The prime minister has faced fierce criticism in Israel for holding back on the issue, including from many who believe Israeli troops can make targeted interventions if necessary to prevent smuggling.
Families of many hostages, including some of the six prisoners whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza on Sunday, accused him of sacrificing their loved ones by insisting on keeping troops in the corridor.
However, Netanyahu said keeping up the pressure on Hamas was the best way to free hostages still held in Gaza.
“You have to pressure them, pressure them to release the remaining hostages. So if you want to release the hostages, you have to control the Philadelphia corridor,” he said.
This content was originally published in Netanyahu says Israel will not leave Gaza-Egypt border without guarantees on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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