On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a surprise trip to visit Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah on Thursday and said Israel must maintain control of the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
Netanyahu has previously said that any deal with Hamas must allow Israel to maintain control of the border, including the Rafah crossing, which has been cut off to aid deliveries since Israel took control of it on May 7. The prime minister’s demand has complicated talks not only with Hamas but also with Egypt, which opposes indefinite Israeli control of the border.
According to Netanyahu’s office, he said in Rafah that the Israeli troops there understand “that our holding the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing are vital for the future.”
He added that the military pressure the soldiers were applying “to the throat of Hamas” was helping advance a hostage deal. But Netanyahu has been working to sabotage a potential agreement, something that’s been widely acknowledged by Israeli officials. Mossad Director David Barnea, the official in charge of negotiations, said Wednesday that Netanyahu’s demands were preventing a deal.
Netanyahu also discussed his upcoming trip to Washington. “Next week I am leaving for the US to address both houses of Congress. I am going to present the justice of Israel’s cause,” he said.
For months leading up to Israel’s invasion of Rafah, the Biden administration was warning against doing so without a clear plan for the over 1 million civilians who were sheltering there. Israel went ahead with the attack without accounting for the civilians, and the US still supported it, claiming it was a “limited” assault.
But Israeli forces killed many civilians and left Rafah in ruin. Civilians who fled the city have been scattered throughout southern and central Gaza. Many ended in so-called “safe zones” that Israel continues to bomb, including the al-Mawasi camp on the coast.