Israel – Former Israeli army chief Benny Gantz said Tuesday that Israel does not need to keep troops on the southern border of the Gaza Strip for security reasons, and should not use that as an excuse to prevent an agreement to recover the remaining hostages from the Gaza Strip.
Gantz, who was a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency government until his resignation in June, said Iran, not the Philadelphi (Salah al-Din) axis, is Israel’s main existential threat.
In a press conference responding to comments made by Netanyahu on Monday, who maintained that Israel needed troops in the Philadelphi corridor, Gantz said that while the corridor was important to prevent Hamas and other Palestinian militants from smuggling weapons into Gaza, the soldiers would be an “easy target” and would not prevent tunnel activity.
He also rejected Netanyahu’s assertion that if Israel withdraws from the Philadelphi corridor, international pressure will make it difficult to return.
“We will be able to return to Philadelphia if and when necessary,” Gantz said, also calling for new elections.
He added, “If Netanyahu does not understand that everything changed after October 7… and if he does not have the strength to resist international pressure to return to Philadelphia, let him put down the keys and go home.”
The Philadelphi Corridor issue is a major sticking point in efforts to reach a deal to stop the fighting in Gaza and recover Israeli hostages held by the factions. Some 101 hostages are still being held in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s position on the negotiations, which have been ongoing for weeks with no signs of a breakthrough, has frustrated Israel’s allies, including the United States, and widened the rift with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
“The story is not about the Philadelphi axis, it is about not making real strategic decisions,” Gantz said.
He added that there was a plan to close Hamas’s underground tunnels with a barrier, but Netanyahu did not support it politically.
Gantz, head of a centrist party, was speaking as thousands of Israelis protested for a third day in Tel Aviv in support of a deal to return the hostages.
“We have to reach an agreement, either in stages or in one stage,” said Gantz, a former defense minister.
He also added that Israel must launch an attack on the Lebanese factions’ movement in southern Lebanon to stop the daily rocket fire and allow displaced citizens from the north to return to their homes.
In response to these statements, Netanyahu said in a statement that since Gantz and his party left the government, Israel has eliminated prominent leaders in the Palestinian and Lebanese factions movement and taken control of the Philadelphi Corridor, “the lifeline through which the Palestinian factions have armed themselves.”
He said, “Whoever does not contribute to achieving victory and the return of the hostages would do well not to interfere.”
Reuters
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2024-09-05 00:58:08
