Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday pushed back against a new wave of pressure to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza after hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested and went on strike and U.S. President Joe Biden said he needed to do more after nearly 11 months of fighting.
In his first public address since Sunday’s mass protests showed many Israelis’ furious response to the discovery of six more dead hostages, Netanyahu said he will continue to insist on a demand that has emerged as a major sticking point in talks — continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow band along Gaza’s border with Egypt where Israel contends Hamas smuggles weapons into Gaza. Egypt and Hamas deny it.
Netanyahu called the corridor vital to ensuring Hamas cannot rearm via tunnels. “This is the oxygen of Hamas,” he said.
And he added: “No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me. … No one will preach to me on this issue.’
I’m gonna be honest, aside from the one ceasefire they had, I highly doubt Hamas has been able to continue to smuggle weapons across Egypt’s border.
Israel already makes it near impossible for actual aid trucks to get through, I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire border was being monitored by Mossad informants.
I think Hamas knew any negotiations would likely fail, so they really did prepare for a drawn out conflict by stockpiling resources and taking hostages to use as pressure.
Anything they have left is probably small arms and stuff they scavanged from Israeli troops.