JERUSALEM :
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel must keep open-ended control of Gaza’s border with Egypt, digging in on his stance on an issue that has threatened to derail cease-fire efforts.
Netanyahu’s comments came as the United States is developing a new proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release, hoping to break a long deadlock and bring an end to the nearly 11-month-old war.
The question of Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor –- a narrow strip of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt, seized by troops in May –- has become a central obstacle in the talks. Hamas has demanded an eventual full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in the multi-phase truce deal.
Egypt, a mediator in the talks along with the U.S. and Qatar, has also demanded a concrete timeline for Israeli troops to leave the Philadelphi corridor. And on Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates, which established formal ties with Israel in the 2020 Abraham Accords, also criticized the Israeli stance.
Speaking to foreign journalists, Netanyahu repeated his stance that Israel must maintain its hold on the border to prevent Hamas from rearming by smuggling weapons into Gaza. He said it was a vital part of the war goal of ensuring Hamas cannot repeat its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
“Gaza must be demilitarized, and this can only happen if the Philadelphi corridor remains under firm control,” he said, claiming Israeli troops had discovered dozens of tunnels under the border.
He said Israel would only consider withdrawing from the corridor when presented with an alternative force to police it.
“Bring me anyone who will actually show us … that they can actually prevent the recurrence” of smuggling, he said. “I don’t see that happening right now. And until that happens, we’re there.”
Families of remaining hostages have stepped up their demands that he agree to a deal after Hamas killed six hostages last week as Israeli troops appeared to be moving to rescue them. In angry public statements, hostage families have accused Netanyahu of blocking a deal and potentially sacrificing their loved ones’ lives for the sake of holding the border strip. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in recent days, calling for a deal and saying time is running out to bring home the hostages alive.
Netanyahu pushed back against the pressure, saying his stance was necessary to “ensure Hamas doesn’t pose a threat to Israel.”
“I can understand the torment of families,” he said. “But the responsibility of leaders is not merely to share the sentiment, the emotion, but also to exercise judgment.”
Asked by journalists for a timeline on ending the war, he refused to give one. “How long can we do this? As long as it takes to achieve this victory. And I think we’re getting a lot closer,” he said.
Netanyahu repeatedly insisted holding the border would also pressure Hamas to release hostages. At one point, he erroneously claimed the invasion of Rafah in May forced Hamas’ first release of hostages – which took place months earlier in November under a weeklong ceasefire deal. He then said the deal was “the result of our invasion, the military pressure we put on them.”
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported early Thursday that an Israeli drone strike killed five men and wounded another in a car in Tubas in the West Bank.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it carried out “three targeted strikes on armed terrorists that posed a threat on the soldiers,” without immediately elaborating. For more than a week, hundreds of Israeli forces have been carrying out the deadliest operation in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war began.
(AP)
Hamas says Netanyahu trying to ‘thwart’ Gaza truce
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Sept 5, 2024 :
Hamas on Thursday accused Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to “thwart” a Gaza truce deal, after the Israeli premier said the Palestinian militant group has “rejected everything” in negotiations.
The blame trading comes as Netanyahu faces pressure to seal a deal that would free remaining hostages, after Israeli authorities announced on Sunday the deaths of six whose bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.
“We’re trying to find some area to begin the negotiations,” Netanyahu said Wednesday.
“They (Hamas) refuse to do that… (They said) there’s nothing to talk about.”
Netanyahu maintains that Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel started the war.
Hamas is demanding complete Israeli withdrawal from the area and on Thursday said Netanyahu’s insistence on the border zone “aims to thwart reaching an agreement.”
The Palestinian militant group says a new deal is unnecessary because they agreed months ago to a truce outlined by US President Joe Biden.
“We do not need new proposals,” the group said on Telegram.
“We warn against falling into the trap of Netanyahu and his tricks, who uses negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people,” the Hamas statement added.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that Washington thinks “there are ways to address” the impasse.
– ‘Not in coffins’ –
At Israeli protests in several cities this week, Netanyahu’s critics have blamed him for hostages’ deaths, saying he has refused to make necessary concessions for striking a ceasefire deal.
“We are just waiting for them to come back to us, to come back alive and not in coffins,” said Anet Kidron, whose community of Kibbutz Beeri was attacked on October 7.
Key mediator Qatar said on Tuesday that Israel’s approach was “based on an attempt to falsify facts and mislead world public opinion by repeating lies”.
Such moves “will ultimately lead to the demise of peace efforts,” Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
The October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians including some hostages killed in captivity, according to official Israeli figures.
Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Scores were released during a one-week truce in November.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 40,861 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Most of the dead are women and children, according to the UN rights office.
Widespread Israeli bombardment overnight into Thursday included a strike which killed four people sheltering in tents near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, a medical source told AFP.
The military said it hit a “command and control centre” used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in Deir al-Balah.
In a separate stike in the southern Al-Mawasi area, a missile killed one and wounded several others, Palestinian Red Crescent Society medics said.
– ‘Blowing everything up’ –
While Israel presses its Gaza offensive, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the military should use its “full strength” against Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.
“These terrorist organisations that have various names, whether in Nur al-Shams, Tulkarem, Faraa or Jenin, must be wiped out,” he said, referring to cities and refugee camps where an Israeli military operation is currently underway.
The Israeli military said Thursday its aircraft “conducted three targeted strikes on armed terrorists” in the Tubas area, which includes Faraa refugee camp.
A strike on a car killed five men aged 21 to 30 and wounded two others, the territory’s health ministry said.
Eyewitnesses told AFP they saw a large number of Israeli troops storming Faraa camp, where explosions were heard.
The Red Crescent said the Israeli military handed over the dead body of a 17-year-old in Faraa camp, after medics were prevented from reaching him when he was wounded.
Israel has killed at least 35 Palestinians across the northern West Bank since its assault there started on August 28, according to figures released by the health ministry, including children and militants.
One Israeli soldier was killed in Jenin, where the majority of the Palestinian fatalities have been.
“Panic spread as the army was blowing up everything around without taking into consideration that there were children,” Hanan Natour, a resident of Jenin refugee camp, told AFP on Wednesday.
Israeli troops have destroyed infrastructure in Jenin and elsewhere in the West Bank, with the United Nations reporting the military restricting hospital access and using “war-like tactics”.
– Polio vaccination drive –
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has left the territory in ruins, with the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure blamed for the spread of disease.
The humanitarian crisis has led to Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years, prompting a massive vaccination effort launched Sunday with localised “humanitarian pauses” in fighting.
Nearly 200,000 children in central Gaza have received a first dose, the World Health Organization said, with a second stage set to get underway Thursday in the south before medics move north.
The campaign aims to fully vaccinate more than 640,000 children, with second doses due in about four weeks.
(AFP)
