At a news conference late Monday, Netanyahu described Israel’s presence there — along a narrow strip of land known as the Philadelphi Corridor — as a “strategic imperative.” He repeated similar talking points at a news conference for foreign media on Wednesday, arguing that retaining control of the border region, which Hamas long used for smuggling weapons and materiel, is necessary to maintain military pressure on the group.
On Monday, though, a senior Israeli negotiator had already told U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators that Israel was willing to pull all of its troops out of the corridor during the second phase of a proposed three-stage agreement, according to the current and former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. During the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from about half of the corridor, said a former Egyptian official briefed on the talks.
David Barnea, Israel’s spy chief, delivered the message Monday, according to an Israeli official and an official from a mediating country briefed on the talks. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper first reported the offer on Tuesday…..
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Hamas using dead hostages as leverage against Netanyahu
Hamas on Wednesday released a video of two hostages, recorded before their deaths, whose bodies were among those recovered earlier this week by the Israeli military from a tunnel in the Gaza Strip.
The video released on Wednesday included footage of Carmel Gat, 40, and Alexander Lobanov, 32. Hamas had released videos of two other hostages, on Monday and another on Tuesday. The release Wednesday ensures that the fate of the captives remains in the public eye.
All four were among six slain hostages who, according to autopsy reports released by the Israeli Ministry of Health, were shot at close range sometime between Thursday and Friday morning.
More than 60 living hostages, and the bodies of about 35 others taken captive during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, are still in Gaza, according to the Israeli authorities. The publication of the video comes as international negotiators are trying to bring Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, to an agreement that would result in a cease-fire…..
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The Philadephia Corridor issue remains unsolved….
Israel has said that the presence of its soldiers in Gaza after a permanent cease-fire is necessary to prevent Hamas from regrouping and weapons from being smuggled across the territory. In particular, Israel wants some Israeli troops to patrol part of the Egypt-Gaza border because it believes Egypt has not done enough to prevent Hamas from smuggling arms. And Israel believes that having Israeli troops within Gaza would aim to prevent Hamas fighters from going back en masse to regroup in the northern part of the enclave.
The latest high-level effort to reach a cease-fire agreement in Gaza ended on Aug. 25, with Israel and Hamas, the group that governs the enclave, remaining far apart on several critical issues. One of those, according to an American official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations, is whether Israeli forces will remain on the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, and if so, how many.
This has emerged as a crucial issue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel considers an Israeli military presence in the area, which Israel calls the Philadelphi Corridor and Egypt calls Salah Al Din, vital to preventing Hamas from rearming after the war or rebuilding tunnels to Egypt….
Sep 4, 2024 – ISW Press
Senior Iranian military officials have continued to signal that Iran will attack Israel directly in response to Israel killing several senior Axis of Resistance leaders, including Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh, in recent weeks. Armed Forces General Staff Coordination Deputy Brigadier General Ali Abdollahi Ali Abadi claimed on September 4 that Israel “must bury [its] dream that Iran will not respond” to Haniyeh’s death.
Note…
One should probably NOT take Iran DIRECTLY attacking anybody…
They haven’t yet….
They have their ownn issues…
They do NOT need Israel or then US retalialting against them….
This that is probably more as a push against Netanyhu for a settlement in Gaza, The West Bank and Lebanon