Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will not give up control over the Philadelphi Corridor, a 14-kilometre strip on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, despite an outpouring of grief and anger by protesters.
“We will not be leaving,” Netanyahu told a press conference on Monday, calling Israel’s military presence a strategic and political necessity for Israel.
But if the military remains in the area, then an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza and a release of the hostages still being held by Hamas is likely to be extremely difficult.
Both Hamas and Egypt are demanding that Israel withdraw its troops.
Netanyahu went on to say that Hamas would pay a “very high price” for the deaths of six Israeli hostages whose bodies were discovered in an underground tunnel in the south of the Gaza Strip over the weekend.
According to media reports, the Israeli Health Ministry stated that the hostages had been shot at close range around 48 to 72 hours before the autopsy.
“I ask your apology that we did not succeed in bringing them home alive,” a contrite Netanyahu added.
At several demonstrations in Israel on Monday, thousands of people called for an agreement on the release of the hostages.
They accuse Nentanyahu of prioritizing military control over the Gaza-Egypt border at the expense of efforts to free Israeli hostages.
The main point of contention in the negotiations is currently the question of how long Israeli troops may remain stationed in the Philadelphi Corridor. Israel’s security Cabinet recently voted to maintain control of the corridor.
Israel argues that several Hamas tunnels allowing for weapons smuggling between Egypt and Gaza are underneath the corridor, a claim Egypt has denied.
“Your decisions lead to their deaths,” Israeli media quoted from the speech of a man whose brother is still being held in the Gaza Strip.
Protests with several hundred participants also took place near Netanyahu’s home a few hours after the funeral of a hostage who had been killed.
