Netanyahu says Israel will not leave Gaza border corridor until it is secure

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel will only agree to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza that guarantees the border area between southern Gaza and Egypt could never be used as a lifeline for the Islamist movement Hamas. (AFP)
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Updated 05 September 2024
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Netanyahu says Israel will not leave Gaza border corridor until it is secure

  • “Until that happens, we’re there,” he told a news conference in Jerusalem
  • “We’re open to consider it, but I don’t see that happening right now“

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel will only agree to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza that guarantees the border area between southern Gaza and Egypt could never be used as a lifeline for Hamas.
“Until that happens, we’re there,” he told a news conference in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu repeated his outright rejection of a withdrawal from the so-called Philadelphi corridor in the first phase of a deal, expected to last 42 days, saying international pressure would make it effectively impossible to return.
For a permanent ceasefire to be agreed upon after that, Israel would need guarantees that whoever ran postwar Gaza would be able to prevent the corridor from being used as a route for smuggling weapons and supplies for Hamas.
“Somebody has to be there,” he said. “Bring me anyone who will actually show — not on paper, not in words, not on a slide — but day after day, week after week, month after month, that they can actually prevent a recurrence of what happened there before,” he said, referring to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
“We’re open to consider it, but I don’t see that happening right now.”


READ MORE: How a narrow strip of scrubland has become an obstacle to a ceasefire in Gaza


The Philadelphi corridor, along the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, has been one of the main obstacles to a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and bring Israeli hostages home in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu has insisted on retaining control of the corridor, where Israeli troops have uncovered dozens of tunnels that officials say have been used to supply Hamas with weapons and ammunition.
The prime minister has faced heavy criticism from many in Israel for holding out on the issue, including from many in his own security establishment who believe Israeli troops can make targeted interventions if needed to prevent any smuggling.
The families of many hostages, including some of the six whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza on Sunday, have accused him of sacrificing their loved ones by insisting on keeping troops in the corridor.
But he said maintaining pressure on Hamas was the best way to return the 101 hostages still remaining in Gaza.
“You need to squeeze them, to put pressure on them to release the remaining hostages. So if you want to release the hostages, you’ve got to control the Philadelphi corridor,” he said.


Gaza rescuers say no fuel left for 75 percent of their vehicles

Updated 48 min 56 sec ago
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Gaza rescuers say no fuel left for 75 percent of their vehicles

  • First responders were also facing a severe shortage of electric generators and oxygen devices

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Thursday that a lack of fuel had forced three-quarters of its emergency vehicles to stop operating, more than two months into an Israeli aid blockade.
“Seventy-five percent of our vehicles have stopped operating due to a lack of diesel fuel,” the agency’s spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, adding that its first responders were also facing a “severe shortage of electric generators and oxygen devices.”


Israeli PM Netanyahu says 21 hostages alive, doubts over three others

Updated 08 May 2025
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Israeli PM Netanyahu says 21 hostages alive, doubts over three others

  • The fate of the hostages is a visceral issue for most Israelis and one that has caused increasing disquiet and division in Israeli society as the war has dragged on

JERUSALEM: Three Israeli hostages in Gaza previously thought to be living may be dead, leaving 21 definitely believed to be alive, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, confirming comments made by US President Donald Trump.
Speaking at an event at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said 24 hostages were alive a week ago but the figure was now 21. He did not cite a source or provide further details.
Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for hostage issues, had said in a post on X that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was holding 59 hostages of whom 24 were alive and 35 dead — figures unchanged since before Trump spoke.
Netanyahu’s comments appeared to confirm the figure cited by Trump.
“We know for certain that 21 are alive — that’s not in dispute. There are three others where, unfortunately, it’s uncertain whether they’re alive,” Netanyahu said in filmed remarks posted on social media.
A spokesperson for a group representing hostage families said: “The headquarters again calls on the prime minister to stop the war until the return of the last abductee. This is the most urgent and important national task.”
The fate of the hostages is a visceral issue for most Israelis and one that has caused increasing disquiet and division in Israeli society as the war has dragged on. A total of 251 people were taken hostage during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli tallies.
Most of the hostages returned alive to Israel so far were released as part of deals with Hamas during two temporary ceasefires in late 2023 and early 2025.
Since the abductions, Israel has responded with an air and ground assault on Gaza that has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health authorities there, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins.
The government says its two war aims are to destroy Hamas and release the hostages. This week it has announced an expansion of its offensive on Gaza, causing hostage families to fear this will further endanger their loved ones.


World Central Kitchen halts work in Gaza as supplies run out

Updated 07 May 2025
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World Central Kitchen halts work in Gaza as supplies run out

  • WCK said it would continue to support Palestinian families by distributing critically needed potable water where possible
  • Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade

CAIRO: The US-based World Central Kitchen charity has halted work in the Gaza Strip, saying on Wednesday it had run out of supplies and been prevented by Israel from bringing in aid.
“After serving more than 130 million total meals and 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza,” it said in a post on X.
The charity said it would continue to support Palestinian families by distributing critically needed potable water where possible, but vital food distribution cannot resume until Israel allows aid back into the enclave.


“WCK trucks loaded with food and cooking fuel have been ready at the Gaza border since early March. Additional food and equipment are ready to be shipped to the border from Jordan and Egypt,” said World Central Kitchen, which was founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres.
Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months.
Israel has accused agencies, including the United Nations, of allowing large quantities of aid to fall into the hands of Hamas militants, who it accuses of seizing supplies intended for civilians and using them for their own forces. Hamas denies the allegation and accuses Israel of using starvation as a weapon against the population.
Growing lootings of community kitchens, stores of local merchants, and UN headquarters have prompted Hamas security forces to crack down on local gangs. Hamas executed at least six gang members last week, according to sources close to the group.
UN humanitarian agency OCHA has said more than 2 million people — most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million — face severe food shortages.


F/A-18 fighter jet goes overboard from US carrier in the Red Sea

Updated 07 May 2025
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F/A-18 fighter jet goes overboard from US carrier in the Red Sea

  • The incident Tuesday marks the latest mishap to mar the deployment of the Truman

DUBAI: An F/A-18 fighter jet landing on the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea went overboard, forcing its two pilots to eject, a defense official said on Wednesday.

The incident Tuesday marks the latest mishap to mar the deployment of the Truman, which has been essential in the airstrike campaign by the US against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The F/A-18 Super Hornet landed on the Truman after a flight, but “the arrestment failed,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity  about the incident now under investigation.

“Arrestment” refers to the hook system used by aircraft landing on carriers, which catches steel wire ropes on the flight deck. It remains unclear what part of the system failed.

The two pilots on board were later rescued by a helicopter and suffered minor injuries in the incident, the official added. No one on the flight deck was hurt.

Tuesday’s incident was the latest to see the Navy lose an F/A-18, which cost about $60 million. In April, another F/A-18 fighter jet slipped off the hangar deck of the Truman and fell into the Red Sea. The crew members who were in the pilot seat of the Super Hornet and on the small towing tractor both jumped away.

In December, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly shot down an F/A-18 after ships earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Both aviators in that incident also survived.

And in February, the Truman collided with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt.

The Truman, based out of Norfolk, Virginia, has seen its deployment extended multiple times amid the Houthi airstrike campaign. It had been joined recently by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier operating out of the Arabian Sea.


Syria’s Sharaa confirms indirect talks with Israel to ease tensions

Updated 07 May 2025
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Syria’s Sharaa confirms indirect talks with Israel to ease tensions

  • Ahmed Al-Sharaa said random Israeli interventions have violated the 1974 armistice agreement
  • He called on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force to return to the Blue Line of separation

PARIS: President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said Wednesday that Syria was holding “indirect talks” with Israel to calm tensions between the two countries, following Israeli strikes and threats against Syria since Bashar Assad’s ouster.
“There are indirect talks (with Israel) taking place through mediators to calm the situation and try to contain the situation so it does not reach the point where it escapes the control of both sides,” Sharaa told a press conference in Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Random Israeli interventions... have violated the 1974” armistice, Sharaa said, adding that “since we arrived in Damascus, we have told all relevant parties that Syria is committed to the 1974 agreement.”
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on the country since Assad’s December ouster and has said it wants to prevent advanced weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities, whom it considers jihadists.
Israeli troops have also entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone along the 1974 armistice line on the Golan Heights and carried out incursions deeper into southern Syria.
Sharaa said the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force must “return to the Blue Line of separation,” adding that UNDOF had made a number of visits to Damascus.
Macron condemned Israeli strikes on Syria, saying they would not guarantee “Israel’s long-term security.”
“As for bombings and incursions, I think it’s bad practice. You don’t ensure your country’s security by violating the territorial integrity of your neighbors,” Macron said.
Sharaa said that “we are trying to speak with all countries that are in contact with the Israeli side to pressure them to stop interfering in Syria’s affairs, violating its airspace and bombing some of its facilities.”
Sharaa said he and Macron discussed “the ongoing Israeli threats,” adding that “Israel has bombed Syria more than 20 times in the past week alone... under the pretext of protecting minorities.”
Israel’s military said it launched strikes near Damascus’s presidential palace early Friday after the country’s defense minister threatened intervention if Syrian authorities failed to protect the Druze minority, after sectarian clashes in Druze areas last.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the move was a “clear message” to Syria’s new rulers.
The clashes came after a wave of massacres in March in Syria’s Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast.