Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has clashed with Israeli ceasefire negotiators over his insistence that Israel not withdraw from the Philadelphia Corridor in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Philadelphia Corridor, along the border with Egypt, and the Netzarim Corridor, which runs through the middle of the Gaza Strip, are two major sticking points in the talks backed by Egypt, Qatar and the United States (US).
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel will not cede control of the Philadelphia Corridor because it wants to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons and fighters across the border with Egypt.
He also said Israel must maintain checkpoints in the Netzarim Corridor to stop the movement of armed Hamas fighters from the southern part of the Gaza Strip to the north.
A source familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that Netanyahu agreed to move one position in Philadelphia by a few hundred meters. But he would retain overall control of the corridor, despite pressure from members of his negotiating team for more concessions.
“The prime minister is adamant that this situation will continue. This is against pressure from certain elements in the negotiating team who are willing to walk away from it,” said a person with intimate knowledge of the talks.
Also read: These are the terms of the ceasefire between Hamas and Islamic Jihad with Israel
Israel’s Channel 12 television reported this week that Netanyahu was highly critical of the negotiating team, led by David Barnea, the head of the Mossad intelligence agency, for being willing to make too many concessions.
More than 10 months after the October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war, the United States has pressed Israel to end hostilities.
Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 hostages as of Oct. 7, according to an Israeli tally. Israeli bombardment has devastated Gaza and killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the enclave.
Netanyahu is under intense pressure to reach a deal from the families of some of the Israeli hostages still in Gaza. Many of them are in critical condition over the failure to reach a deal. Other critics accuse Netanyahu of blocking a deal for his own political ends.
But with hardliners in his own cabinet pressuring him against any concessions and with opinion polls showing an improvement on the disastrous statistics he had at the start of the war, the prime minister has repeatedly said he wants to achieve total victory against Hamas. (Arabnews/Z-2)
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