Egypt – Israeli and Egyptian negotiators are holding talks on an electronic monitoring system on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt that might allow Israeli forces to withdraw from the area if a ceasefire is agreed upon, two Egyptian sources and a third informed source said on Friday.
The presence of occupation forces on the border is one of the contentious issues in the negotiations for the exchange deal and ceasefire because the Palestinian factions movement and Egypt, which is mediating the talks, oppose Israel keeping its forces there.
Israel is demanding a monitoring system that would prevent smuggling between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
The informed source told Reuters that the discussions are “primarily regarding sensors that will be placed on the Egyptian side of the Philadelphi Corridor.”
He added that the aim of this is to monitor the tunnels and discover the means of smuggling weapons into the Strip.
Asked if this was important for the ceasefire agreement because it meant that Israeli soldiers would not need to be on the Philadelphi corridor, the source confirmed its importance for the agreement.
The two Egyptian security sources told Reuters that the Israeli negotiators talked regarding a high-tech surveillance system.
They added that Egypt does not object to this if the United States supports it and bears its cost, and they said that Cairo will not agree to anything that would change the arrangements on its borders with Israel stipulated in the peace treaty between them.
It is noteworthy that, with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States, which provides absolute support to Israel, the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip and Israel have been conducting indirect, faltering negotiations for months to reach an agreement to exchange prisoners and stop the destructive Israeli war on the Strip, which has entered its tenth month.
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2024-07-13 23:25:40
