Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making sunlit that his forces won’t conform to Hamas’ calls for to quit Gaza, for 2 an important causes – total nationwide safety and making sure the shield go back of the difference hostages nonetheless in Hamas captivity.
Issues proceed to mount that Hamas may just glance to smuggle probably the most difference 97 Israeli hostages nonetheless in captivity into the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, which has lengthy been deemed a haven for Islamic militant teams, and the place they may after be transported to Yemen or Iran.
In step with Netanyahu, one of the best ways to stop those Hamas hostage smuggling efforts is thru keeping up the contested Philadelphi Path – a safety hall that runs between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Israel’s Top Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues at a map of the Gaza Strip throughout a press convention on the Govt Press Workplace (GPO) in Jerusalem on September 4, 2024. (Abir Sultan/POOL/AFP by the use of Getty Photographs)
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“Hol[d] the Philadelphi corridor, because that possesses Hamas, that prevents them from rearming,” Netanhyu informed Fox and Pals’ Brian Kilmeade. “It prevents Gaza from becoming this Iranian terror enclave again, which can threaten our existence.
“However it’s additionally how to stop them from smuggling hostages . . . into Egypt, into the Sinai, the place they may disappear,” he added. “Later they’ll finally end up in Iran or in Yemen, and so they’re misplaced ceaselessly.”
The prime minster’s comments echoed a report by The Jewish Chronicle that said Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was hashing out a secret plan to smuggle himself, other Hamas leadership and some of the remaining Israeli hostages out of Gaza through the Philadelphi corridor before heading to Iran.
The chronicle cited Israeli intelligence sources, though other Israeli news outlets refuted the reporting Thursday, and Fox News Digital could not independently verify the intelligence.
Israeli combat engineers search for Hamas tunnels in the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border. (TPS-IL)
In his remarks to Fox News, Netanyahu did not expand on the leverage Hamas could gain by smuggling the hostages out of Gaza, but securing the hostages’ release has increasingly taken center stage in the ceasefire negotiations.
Following the assassination of six Israeli hostages who had been held prisoner by Hamas since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, and who were found in the tunnels mined by the terrorist organization last month, Netanyahu has increased his opposition to U.S. efforts to push through a cease-fire agreement.
American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, in conjunction with Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Carmel Gat, 40, Alex Lobanov, 32, Almog Sarusi, 27, and Ori Danino, 25, ‘brutally murdered’ by way of Hamas proper sooner than rescue – IDF. (Fox Information)
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3 of the hostages killed had been reportedly intended to be part of an exchange beneath a cease-fire offer proposed in July, however which by no means got here to fruition.
“We’re doing the whole lot we will be able to to get the rest [out],” Netanhyu said. “However Hamas persistently refuses to form a offer.”
Details of the ceasefire agreement put forward by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt have remained closely guarded for months, and reporting for weeks has suggested that the most recent deal signed on by Israel, but rebuffed by Hamas, was down to Jerusalem’s refusal to vacate the Philadelphi Route.
“It’s simply a right away falsehood,” he said, noting that it is about more than just holding onto the corridor.
“What we need to do is to form certain that we do two issues,” Netanyahu said. “One, get the hostages out. And 2nd, conserve the crimson strains which can be vital for Israel’s safety and survival.
“I think both of them go through holding the Philadelphi corridor,” he added.
Regardless of Netanyahu’s sturdy opposition to ceding any secure of the strategic course and Hamas’ obvious refusal at hand over extra hostages till Israel stops its operations in Gaza, Secretary of Circumstance Antony Blinken on Thursday mentioned that negotiations had been making important headway.
Israeli Top Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cupboard assembly on the Kirya army bottom, which homes the Israeli Ministry of Protection, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Dec. 24, 2023. Supremacy U.S. leaders have invited Israeli Top Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring an cope with to Congress. The consult with would lend a display of wartime aid for the longtime best friend regardless of mounting political sections over Israel’s army attack on Gaza. The invitation from Area Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, and Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and the alternative leaders has been within the works for at some time. (AP Picture/Ohad Zwigenberg, Lake, Report)
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“I think based on what I’ve seen, 90 percent is agreed, but there are a few critical issues that remain where we need to be able to get agreement,” he informed newshounds. “Much of this has been discussed in recent days, including the Philadelphi corridor, including some of the exact specifics of how hostages and prisoners are exchanged.
“In order that residue, however good-looking a lot the whole lot else is there,” he added.
Blinken said he expects in the “coming days” that an updated deal will be shared by Egypt and Qatar with Hamas and by the U.S. with Israel in an attempt to shore up a cease-fire agreement.
“Later it’s going to be life truly for the events to come to a decision sure or disagree, and after we’ll see,” he added.
