Egyptian source: We reject Netanyahu’s lies about arms smuggling from Philadelphia | News

Egypt accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of spreading lies about smuggling weapons from Egypt to the Gaza Strip, via the Philadelphi Corridor, in order to cover up his failure in the Strip.

Cairo News Channel quoted a high-level source as saying that Netanyahu’s promotion of arms smuggling from Egypt is another lie to justify his government’s failure to control arms smuggling from Israel to the Gaza Strip.

The high-level source confirmed that the Israeli government has completely lost its credibility internally and externally and is still continuing to promote its lies to cover up its failure, stressing that Israel has failed to eliminate the arms smuggling mafia from Kerem Shalom to the Gaza Strip.

The source also confirmed that Netanyahu is paving the way through his claims of smuggling weapons from Egypt to declare his security and political failure and the failure to find the detainees or achieve any military victory in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

He explained that Netanyahu allows the smuggling of weapons from inside Israel to the West Bank and ignores the sale of weapons to the West Bank in order to find justifications for his aggression against the Palestinian people.

He also noted that Netanyahu’s statements represent a preemptive message to Washington rejecting any ceasefire proposals and aborting all efforts to calm the situation and release detainees and prisoners, pointing out the dissatisfaction of all parties with Netanyahu’s continued failure to reach a truce agreement.

Earlier, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed its rejection of Netanyahu’s accusations that it was turning a blind eye to the smuggling of weapons into Gaza via the Philadelphi Corridor, and considered it an attempt to obstruct reaching a ceasefire in the Strip.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it expresses its complete rejection of Netanyahu’s statements “through which he tried to drag Egypt’s name into distracting Israeli public opinion, obstructing the reaching of a ceasefire deal and prisoner exchange, and obstructing the mediation efforts undertaken by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.”

The ministry stressed “Egypt’s rejection of all allegations made by Israeli officials in this regard,” and held “the Israeli government responsible for the consequences of issuing such statements that further aggravate the situation and aim to justify aggressive and provocative policies, which lead to further escalation in the region.”

The New York Times quoted Israeli officials as saying that Egypt had succeeded in eliminating the tunnels and smuggling weapons on its side, but Hamas had nevertheless managed to bring in large quantities of weapons from various parts of the Sinai Peninsula, according to these officials.

The newspaper pointed out that the mediators are completing a new proposal to narrow the gaps between Israel and Hamas in the upcoming rounds of negotiations.

She said that Qatar and Egypt have prepared a series of amendments that are being discussed with American officials.