Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fiercely defended his insistence on maintaining control of the strategically important Philadelphi Corridor even as critics urge him to concede on that point to try and ensure a deal to release hostages.
"What has changed? What has changed in this week?" Netanyahu said during an English-language press conference on Wednesday. "What's changed is that they murdered six of our hostages in cold blood."
"Now the world will seriously demand that Israel make concessions after this massacre. What messages are sent to Hamas?" he continued. "I'll tell you what the message is: Murder more hostages, you will get more concessions. That's not only illogical. It's not only immoral, it's downright insane. So, it's not going to happen."
"We had redlines before the murder. They haven't changed. We'll hold to them," he insisted.
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Netanyahu made headlines last week when The Times of Israel reported that the prime minister told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that he prioritized an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) presence along the 7.8 mile long Philadelphi Corridor over saving the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
Histadrut, the country's largest trade union, urged Netanyahu to agree to a cease-fire deal and secure the release of all remaining hostages, trying to pressure the government through a protest, which the labor court ultimately shut down, NPR reported.
The Philadelphi Corridor runs along the border between Gaza and Egypt, and is the area in which the Rafah Crossing exists. Netanyahu has insisted that this corridor remains key to maintaining the country’s defense and safety in a post-Hamas state.
The declaration came out during a "heated security cabinet meeting" that further evidenced a divide between the prime minister and the defense minister. Gallant also reportedly accused Netanyahu of imposing his own position on the security establishment.
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"Either keeping the IDF deployed on the Philadelphi Corridor or bringing home the hostages — you are deciding to stay on the Philadelphi Corridor. Does that seem logical to you?" Gallant said, according to a transcript of the meeting. "There are living (hostages) there."
When Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer countered that the prime minister "can do whatever he wants," Gallant sniped back that Netanyahu "can also decide to have all the hostages killed," which prompted backlash from the other ministers, according to the Times of Israel.
A poll taken after the meeting ended with an 8-to-1 vote to support the position of maintaining a presence in the corridor. Netanyahu ultimately deemed it vital to explain to the public his reason for insisting on that continued presence, leading to Wednesday’s press conference.
Netanyahu listed a few examples of previous deals the U.S. and negotiators offered and Israel agreed to, but stressed that each time Hamas stepped away and refused the deals on the table.
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"Where I have to be firm, I am firm, and where I have to be flexible, I have been flexible, but the obstacle has been Hamas from the beginning. Everybody knows that," Netanyahu said, stressing that Hamas accepted no version of a deal, making it a moot point to ask if Israel insisted on the corridor control in previous deals.
A defiant Netanyahu, fielding questions from the press, underscored his commitment to the country’s defense and safety at any cost, declaring that Israel would continue its various humanitarian policies, which he insisted have thus-far proven effective.
He continued to underscore the necessity of including a presence along the Philadelphi Corridor in any ceasefire agreement, or he feared a "recurrence of what happened there before," referring to the Oct. 7 attack.
In response to a question about former hostage Aviva Siegel, who told a reporter that Netanyahu was "sentencing her husband" to death by insisting on holding the Philadelphi Corridor, Netanyahu said that control of the corridor is the only reason Hamas have even relented on negotiations and the only way they will continue to concede to Israel's points.
"I'll do everything to make sure that Keith and all the other hostages come back," Netanyahu said. "I'm telling you that if we relieve the pressure, if we get out of the Philadelphi Corridor, we're not going to get the hostages back."
"Certainly, we're going to condemn a lot of them to stay there. We could get a few out, they'll give us that, but they'll leave a lot with them," Netanyahu argued. "We won't have the pressure point and something else will happen. We will not be able to come back."
