Military expert Brigadier General Elias Hanna said that the dispute between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant comes within the framework of mutual accusations between the former and the military establishment regarding the failure on October 7.
Hanna explained – during his analysis of the military developments in Gaza – that Galant believes that exiting the Philadelphi Corridor separating Egypt and the Gaza Strip will be a gateway to a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of prisoners as part of an exchange deal.
But Netanyahu does not pay attention to that, as the military expert points out that what matters to him are the number of soldiers, towers, and points where the occupation army will remain along the Philadelphi, in addition to knowing the mechanism and rules of engagement and the buffer zone that must be secured in the Palestinian interior.
In this context, Hanna said that when Israel signs security agreements or treaties, it attaches security annexes to them, as it did during the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.
However, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) created another dimension and a new factor that tunnel wars have not witnessed historically – according to the military expert – as it proved that whoever controls the surface of the earth is not the same as whoever controls the underground, “which will constitute a burden on everyone who comes to Gaza.”
He pointed out that Israel has historically used the method of vertical and horizontal isolation in the West Bank and other occupied areas, in addition to its control over the airspace and groundwater.
Hanna did not rule out that the Israeli 98th Division – which announced the end of its operations in Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah – would be assigned tasks similar to the work in the Philadelphi Corridor area, especially after the Ministerial Council approved maintaining Israeli control over it.
He concluded that Israel’s goal remains to dismember the areas and displace the population after destroying them.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth indicated that the meeting of the security cabinet regarding the Philadelphi Corridor witnessed a verbal confrontation and shouting between Netanyahu and Galant, as the latter attacked the former when he presented the maps of the corridor and accused him of imposing them on the Israeli army.
Netanyahu quickly responded to Galant, according to the newspaper, by saying that he would bring the maps regarding Philadelphia to the cabinet for approval, while Galant mocked and said, “Netanyahu can make decisions and decide to kill all the kidnapped (prisoners).”
The situation did not end there, but Netanyahu said that he was tired of the briefings and put the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor to a vote immediately, at a time when the same newspaper quoted the heads of the security services as saying that “Israel is at a strategic crossroads and there is no importance to remaining in Philadelphi.”
