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What is the Philadelphi corridor, and why is Bibi so fixated on it?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks has repeatedly emphasized the need for Israel to retain control of the Philadelphi corridor. This has emerged as a major obstacle to a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Here’s a breakdown of the corridor’s significance and the implications of Netanyahu’s stance.
What is the Philadelphi corridor? It is a narrow buffer zone — roughly 100 yards wide and 9 miles long — that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt and includes the Rafah border crossing. The corridor was established via a landmark 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Philadelphi is the Israeli code name for the area, while Egypt refers to it as Salah al-Din.
The Philadelphi corridor was under Israel’s control until 2005, when Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza. It then fell under the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority and Egypt — until Hamas took over Gaza in 2007.
As part of a May offensive, Israel seized control of the Philadelphi corridor and the Rafah crossing — moves that raised tensions between the Israeli and Egyptian governments.
As a vital route for aid into Gaza, the Rafah crossing is considered a “lifeline” for Gaza. Before May, it was the only Gaza border crossing not directly controlled by the Jewish state, which has imposed a blockade on the enclave — with Egypt’s support — starting in 2007. Since Oct. 7, it’s become even more difficult for aid to get into Gaza and for people to leave the enclave.
Why is Philadelphi so important to Netanyahu? The PM contends that Israel must maintain a presence in the corridor to prevent the area from being used by Hamas for arms smuggling. “Gaza must be demilitarized, and this can only happen if the Philadelphi corridor remains under firm control,” Netanyahu said Wednesday.
Though the focus on the corridor has intensified in recent days, particularly after the killing of six hostages in Gaza, Netanyahu signaled a desire for Israeli control of the Egypt-Gaza border as far back as late December. The corridor “must be in our hands,” Netanyahu said then.
What do other Israeli politicians say? Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid have both criticized Netanyahu’s stance on the Philadelphi corridor.
“It is too late for the hostages who were murdered in cold blood. The hostages who remain in Hamas captivity must be returned home,” Gallant said in a tweet on Sunday that also called for the security cabinet to reverse a decision to keep Israeli forces in the corridor. Lapid decried Netanyahu’s position as “baseless political spin” that’s “disconnected from reality.”
Top rival Benny Gantz, along with other critics, have accused Netanyahu of prioritizing his political survival over the country’s best interests. The far-right flank of Netanyahu’s coalition has threatened to collapse the government if a truce is reached with Hamas.
What does this mean for cease-fire talks? Hamas says there will be no deal if Israeli forces remain in the Philadelphi corridor. The Palestinian militant group has pushed for all Israeli troops to withdraw from Gaza as part of a cease-fire agreement.
Following the recent killings of hostages in Gaza, mass numbers of Israelis have flooded the country’s streets and demanded a hostage deal. But Netanyahu has refused to budge on an Israeli presence in the corridor. Family members of hostages in recent days have accused him of blocking a deal and condemning their loved ones to die over his refusal to pull troops from the Philadelphi corridor.
The Israeli PM’s public comments on this issue have also reportedly contradicted private indications from Israeli negotiators to international mediators that Israel is willing to withdraw troops from the corridor as part of a phased cease-fire agreement.
And in a sign that the US government is getting fed up with Netanyahu, President Joe Biden on Monday said the Israeli leader is not doing enough to secure a cease-fire deal.
With neither side willing to make significant compromises, talks remain at an impasse, and the war in Gaza is poised to continue for the foreseeable future.
“There’s not a deal in the making,” Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday. “Unfortunately, it’s not close.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands before a map of the Gaza Strip, telling viewers how Hamas has imported arms into the territory since Israel's withdrawal in 2005, during a news conference in Jerusalem, September 2, 2024.
Why Netanyahu won’t budge
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thrown cold water on rising calls for a cease-fire deal with Hamas, despite facing mass protests in the wake of the killings of six Oct. 7 hostages in Gaza. “No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me. But no one will preach to me,” Netanyahu said on Monday.
Netanyahu also said that Israel would not give up control of the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip of land along the Egypt-Gaza border that was created as a demilitarized zone via the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1979. The Philadelphi corridor — which was seized by Israel in May, to Egypt’s dismay — has emerged as a major sticking point in truce talks.
Netanyahu insists that Israel must remain in the Philadelphi corridor to prevent Hamas from using it for arms smuggling. Meanwhile, Hamas says there will be no cease-fire if Israeli forces remain in the corridor.
Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity party and a top rival of the prime minister, on Tuesday pushed back against Netanyahu’s assertion that the Philadelphi corridor posed an existential threat to Israel. Gantz also accused Netanyahu of putting his own interests before Israel’s, an allegation that the Israeli leader has increasingly faced throughout the war in Gaza.
The far-right flank of Netanyahu’s flimsy coalition has threatened to collapse the government if a cease-fire agreement is reached. Critics of Netanyahu, like Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, say he’s standing in the way of a deal to remain in power.
As he faces increasing pressure to bring the hostages home, we’ll be watching to see if Netanyahu is willing to shift on issues like the Philadelphi corridor in the days ahead.
Flames rise following an Israeli strike on a residential building, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, in this screen grab taken from a video, August 11, 2024.
Hamas bows out of talks, demands July agreement be upheld
Hamas announced Sundayit will not send negotiators to cease-fire talks scheduled for Thursday in either Cairo or Doha. The talks are supposed to cover border security, hostage releases, and the conditions for a cease-fire. The group is demanding that mediators present a plan based on previous agreements from July 2, claiming that any new deal would grant Israel more time for aggression.
The shift comes in the wake of Israel’sexpanded evacuation orders in Khan Younis, which displaced thousands of residents, andSaturday’s airstrike on a Gaza City school shelter that killed at least 90 people. Israel says 20 Hamas militants were using the shelter as an operating base, but the attack has drawnwidespread condemnation from world leaders, including those of Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Both EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and British Foreign Minister David Lammy expressed shock at the images from the school, and US Vice President Kamala Harris stated, “Yet again, far too many civilians have been killed.”
Meanwhile, tensions are heating up on Israel’s border with Lebanon as the terror group Hezbollah launched several explosive-laden drones at northern Israel on Saturday. The militants said the attack was in response to an Israeli strike that killed a Hamas commander in Lebanon.Iran also has yet to retaliate for the assassination last month of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, a move that could further fuel conflict in the region amid fears of an all-out war with Israel.Druze residents protest a visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the scene where children and teens were killed at a soccer pitch by a rocket Israel says was fired from Lebanon, in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, July 29, 2024.
Can the Middle East avoid a regional conflict?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday warned there would be a “severe” response to a deadly rocket strike on Saturday in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which the Jewish state and the US have blamed on Hezbollah. The Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, which has been trading cross-border fire with Israel throughout the Gaza war, denies responsibility.
“The state of Israel will not and cannot overlook this. Our response will come, and it will be severe,” Netanyahu said while in the Golan Heights. Hundreds of locals protested Netanyahu’s visit, with some reportedly accusing him of exploiting the deadly attack for political purposes.
This came after Israel’s security cabinet authorized Netanyahu to decide on the “manner and timing” of a response to the strike. An Israeli drone strike killed two Hezbollah fighters on Monday, but so far there has not been a major retaliatory attack. The US is urging Israel to show restraint.
The escalating tit-for-tat between Israel and Hezbollah in recent months has consistently raised concerns over the possibility of a broader war in the region. Saturday’s strike, which killed young children and teenagers, poured fuel on an already raging fire. But there are signs that a larger conflict can still be avoided.
Gregory Brew, a Eurasia Group analyst, believes Israel’s response will include a military response against Hezbollah that will be more extensive than any actions taken against the militant group since Oct. 7. But it will “be calibrated in such a way as to avoid risks of significant escalation,” Brew adds, and Hezbollah is “also under pressure to avoid escalation.”
And while this strike reignited concerns that Israel might invade Lebanon, a move that could risk a response from Iran, the IDF “doesn’t seem positioned to launch a big offensive, one requiring lots of additional troops and resources,” says Brew.
Trouble on the home front: Far-right protesters stormed two Israeli army bases after military police detained nine soldiers as part of an investigation into abuse at Sde Teiman, a prison camp for Palestinians. They broke into Sde Teiman early Monday as military police arrived and later broke into a base at Beit Lid, where there are military courts and where detained soldiers were being transferred.
The army deployed additional forces to both camps to take back control, and Netanyahu called for calm in the hours after the first attack on Sde Teiman. We’re watching whether these internal clashes continue, and how they impact Israel’s combat posture.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators wave Palestinian flags outside Union Station, on the day of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill, in Washington, U.S., July 24, 2024.
Bibi calls for anti-Iran alliance in Congress as thousands protest
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress Wednesday afternoon amid protests both inside and outside the US Capitol. He framed the war with Hamas as part of a larger conflict between the United States and Iran, and proposed an alliance of anti-Iran nations to be called “The Abraham Alliance.”
In doing so, Netanyahu cast Israeli troops as fighting on the frontlines for American interests, echoing similar sentiments about Ukrainians fighting on behalf of Western democracy. That said, he thanked President Joe Biden multiple times for his support and also lavished praise on former President Donald Trump. He’ll meet with both men this week before going home.
“It was a curious speech. On the one hand, Netanyahu went out of his way to thank Biden and note Israel’s debt to the US, and then followed it up immediately by listing Trump’s achievements,” noted Eurasia Group expert Greg Brew. “But overall, it struck the expected tone, emphasizing that Israel’s confrontation with Iran was really about protecting America.”
Netanyahu’s speech met with mostly warm reception in the halls of Congress, though a few boos were occasionally audible amid the applause. However, over 100 Congressional staffers called in sick in a coordinated protest action, and Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris declined to attend due to a scheduling conflict.
On the streets around Capitol Hill, more than 5,000 people — whom Netanyahu called “Iran’s useful idiots” — marched in protest. They chanted “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” and accused Netanyahu of genocide, while also directing considerable invective at riot gear-clad police lining the route. Around 1:40 p.m., GZERO witnessed police on Constitution Avenue detonate a tear gas canister, which caused a mild panic in the crowd and forced at least six protesters to seek care from on-site medics.
Speakers at a rally held before the march praised pro-Palestinian activists for their efforts in the US. “The reason Joe Biden is not at the top of the nomination for the Democratic Party today is because of you, my friends,” said activist Linda Sarsour, addressing the crowd. “The reason why Kamala Harris is not presiding over the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech is because of you.”
But few at the rally expressed hope for much change from a potential Harris administration — though Gabriel, 68, a retired driver from Maryland, said he thought Harris might “see Palestinians with more empathy.”
We’re watching how Harris talks about Israel on the campaign trail, as well as whether the young people who showed up in Washington will reignite protests on college campuses this fall.
Palestinians flee the area after an Israeli attack on July 13, 2024 in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.
Hamas says Mohammed Deif lives and denies halting truce talks
Hamas claimed it had not withdrawn from Gaza truce talks on Sunday, despite earlier reports to the contrary, after Saturday’s Israeli offensive targeted Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. Hamas says Deif survived, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Deif’s fate remains unclear. The strike killed 92 other Palestinians, including women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
A Hamas official described the attacks as a “grave escalation” that showed Israel was not interested in reaching a cease-fire agreement, but Hamas’s military strategy also does not facilitate this objective. A weekend report from the New York Times, for example, details how Hamas fighters embed their operations within civilian areas, ensuring that any Israeli action produces heavy casualties. Hamas fighters often use a system of lookouts, including children, to monitor Israeli movements before emerging in plain clothes to launch surprise attacks and meld back into the local population.
This accomplishes Hamas’s real goal of dragging out the conflict with Israel, undermining the Jewish state and isolating it on the international stage.As far back as November 2023, Khalil al-Hayya, a deputy to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, said “This battle … did not seek to improve the situation in Gaza. This battle is to completely overthrow the situation.”
With the conflictnow increasingly expanding to include Hezbollah, Hamas may be dangerously close to achieving this goal. The losers, of course, are both the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza and the people of Israel, desperate for the return of the over 100 hostages still held by Hamas, as well as Jews around the world now subject to a surge in antisemitic attacks.
FILE PHOTO: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during his meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (not pictured) at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., March 26, 2024.
Israeli leaders visit Washington amid rising tensions
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant traveled to Washington, DC, this weekend to discuss the final phase of Israel’s offensive in Gaza — and to address growing concern over hostilities with the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah.
Since Hamas’ attacks of Oct. 7, Hezbollah has ramped up its rocket and drone attacks on Israel, forcing the evacuation of northern border towns. Now, as Israel targets the last Hamas strongholds in Gaza, the concern is that the conflict could shift north to Lebanon.Last Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah posted a video threatening to destroy key Israeli infrastructure with missiles if they are attacked.
The London Sunday Telegraph reported a significant increase in Iranian shipments of rockets to the group via Beirut's Rafic Al Hariri International Airport. “We are prepared for any action in Gaza, Lebanon, and more areas,” Gallant said before meeting US officials this week.
Netanyahu’s DC drama. Meanwhile, the politics are becoming increasingly perilous on Capitol Hill. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to address the US Congress on July 24, and many Democrats are conflicted about whether to attend. After Bibi released a video last week chastising Washington for withholding military aid – the US has only withheld one shipment while providing $12 billion in aid since Oct. 7 – some fear furthernegativity about US support for Israel from Bibi could complicate Biden’s reelection campaign.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on June 5, 2024.
Bibi bites the hand that feeds him
The White House is scratching its head after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video published Tuesday, accused the Biden administration of “withholding weapons and ammunitions” from the Jewish state over “the past few months.”
“We genuinely do not know what he is talking about. We just don't,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierresaid in response to Netanyahu’s comments.
The reality. The US has withheld just one shipment of bombs to Israel since its war with Hamas began in October. Meanwhile, the US has sent billions worth of arms to Israel, which has led to criticism of President Joe Biden by young voters and progressives in Washington.
Bibi’s rationale. It’s unclear why Netanyahu would bite the hand that feeds him. Is it possible he’s laying the foundations for a political attack to try and undermine Biden in the runup to November’s election? Donald Trump, after all, instituted policies as president that aligned with Netanyahu’s agenda, such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.
Alternatively, Netanyahu may just be trying to draw attention away from Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, especially in light of a new UN report saying Israel “may have repeatedly violated fundamental principles of the laws of war” in its bombing of densely populated areas of Gaza.
In the days ahead, we’ll be watching to see whether Netanyahu’s comments lead to any changes in the Biden administration’s policy toward Israel.