The Times of Israel reported that Israeli officials assured mediators in Qatar that the army’s complete withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor would be in the second phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper explained that the Israeli confirmation to Qatar came during the visit of Mossad chief David Barnea to the capital, Doha, and before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s press conference the day before yesterday, Monday.
Today, Haaretz quoted an American official as saying that the head of Mossad confirmed to mediators Israel’s readiness to withdraw from Philadelphia before Netanyahu announced his rejection of this.
The American official added, “We want the exchange agreement more than Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and we are pushing to achieve it in every possible way,” stressing, “If we surrender, no one will deal with this issue anymore, and we have no other choice.”
Two days ago, Netanyahu renewed his insistence on remaining in the Philadelphi (Salah al-Din) axis, and asked for “forgiveness” from the families of 6 prisoners – whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip – for not returning them alive, after the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) held him responsible for their deaths and for disrupting the negotiations with his intransigence and new conditions.
Netanyahu claimed – in a televised press conference in occupied Jerusalem – that there was no previous international agreement allowing them to remain in the Philadelphi corridor, stressing that achieving the war’s goals “passes through this corridor.”
He added, “They tell us: Leave the Philadelphi corridor for 42 days, and I say if we do that we will not return to it even after 42 years,” considering that the entry of the Israeli army into the Philadelphi corridor forced Hamas to change its position in the negotiations.
Netanyahu said that Israel was close to freeing the six detainees, but unfortunately it did not succeed. “Hamas killed them by shooting them in the back of the head, and it will pay a heavy price for that,” he said, stressing that he is working around the clock to return the prisoners.
Hebrew and American media reported that the head of the Mossad headed an Israeli delegation in the past rounds of negotiations in meetings with mediators in Qatar and Egypt in an attempt to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza that includes the release of prisoners, in light of Washington’s talk about exerting pressure for the agreement.
Crisis of confidence
In Israel, the intensity of the attack and criticism of Netanyahu is escalating, accusing him of obstructing the prisoner exchange deal that will return the detainees alive from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Army Radio quoted Knesset member Avichai Bofaron as saying today that there is a crisis of confidence between Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant, “which harms all of our security.”
Netanyahu has been criticised and accused of killing more Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, while violent clashes erupted between police and protesters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening.
Last Monday, Israeli newspapers also covered the mass protests that swept Israel, along with a strike by the Histadrut, demanding that Netanyahu agree to a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
