The Gaza Strip buffer zone along the Egyptian border known as the Philadelphi Corridor must be sealed to prevent arms smuggling, but no operational decision has been taken as to the best way to do so, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“We cannot end the war without sealing this breach,” he said, because otherwise “we will eliminate Hamas, we will demilitarize Gaza” only to have arms flow back in through this southern breach.
He spoke about the corridor during a Saturday night press conference, hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that the IDF was planning a military operation near Egypt’s border with Gaza to seize control of that corridor.
Israel had controlled the small 14-kilometer corridor under terms set out by the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, but it left that buffer zone area when it withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Hamas built tunnels underneath Rafah crossing
Egypt maintains a crossing with Gaza at Rafah, but Hamas has built tunnels underneath that area to smuggle weapons into the Strip.
“There are several options” as to how to seal the breaches in that area, “but no decision has been taken, save for one - it has to be blocked,” he said.
Netanyahu repeated his pledge to continue the war against Hamas in Gaza until the terror group was destroyed and the remaining 136 hostages there were freed.
He spoke at the same time as relatives of the hostage held a rally in Tel Aviv demanding the release of the captives now.
French President Emmanuel Macron and US Ambassador to Israel Jake Lew addressed the rally. Lew said that US President Joe Biden and everyone in the administration were determined to free the captives.
“To get this done we are working tirelessly with the governments of Israel, Egypt, and any other country that can help us reach a breakthrough to bring them home,” Lew said.
“We will not waver in our commitment to bring them home,” he said.
Earlier in the evening IDF Chief-of-Staff Herzl Halevi told reporters he believed that military pressure was the best way to secure their release. Netanyahu issued the same statement when he spoke to the press.
When quizzed by a reporter about how it might feel to have one’s loved one in captivity for close to 100 days, Netanyahu said that was impossible to stand in those shoes, just like the relatives of the captives could not stand in his.
“No one can put themselves in the place of the family members” of the captives who are undergoing a terrible night,” he said.
“They cannot put themselves in the place of the political echelon Difficult decisions need to be made. We are making efforts [to free the captives” even in these moments.”
Hamas is trying to exact the highest price it can and Israel is countering that with military pressure, he said.
“If we lower that pressure and Hamas feels safe, no one will return,” he stressed.
On Friday the Prime Minister’s Office said the hostages in Gaza will receive medication through a deal mediated by Qatar.
"This effort is part of Israel's humanitarian aid mechanism for the Gaza Strip. The medicine will be delivered in the next few days,” the PMO stated.
At Netanyahu’s directive Mossad chief David Barnea “approached Qatar with a plan to deliver much-needed medicine for the hostages held in Gaza by the terror organization Hamas,” it explained.
It’s estimated that Hamas is holding 136 captives in Gaza out of the over 250 seized during its October 7 attack against southern Israel, of which 110 have already been freed. The bodies of some 11 captives have been returned to Israel and it is estimated that some 23 hostages have died or been killed in captivity.
Hamas has prevented the Red Cross from visiting the hostages and they have not received any medications.
The families' campaign for the return of the hostages said in response that “visual proof” was needed to ensure that the medications were truly delivered before moving forward on any aid mechanism for Gaza.
“The shocking images of the captives in captivity necessitates that the countries involved in the negotiations must increase pressure to lead to their immediate release” and should not be satisfied with the delivery of mediations, the campaign said.”
A Hamas official thanked Qatar on Saturday for sending medicine to the Gaza Strip "in light of the many risks that threaten the lives of Palestinians."
"Some medicine will be used to treat Israeli prisoners," Osama Hamdan, a Lebanon-based Hamas leader, told a news conference in Beirut.
Reuters contributed to this report.