Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will not relinquish control of the Philadelphia Corridor, a 14-kilometer (9-mile) strip on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, despite expressions of grief and anger among protesters.
“We will not leave,” Netanyahu said at a news conference Monday, calling Israel’s military presence a strategic and political necessity for Israel.
But if the army remains in the area, it will likely be very difficult to reach an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages still held by Hamas.
Both Hamas and Egypt demand that Israel withdraw its troops.
Netanyahu further said that Hamas would pay a “very high price” for the deaths of six Israeli hostages, whose bodies were discovered last weekend in an underground tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to media reports, the Israeli Ministry of Health stated that the hostages were shot at close range 48 to 72 hours before the autopsy.
“I ask for your apologies for our failure to bring them home alive,” a remorseful Netanyahu added.
Thousands of people at several demonstrations in Israel on Monday called for an agreement to release the hostages.
They accuse Nentanyahu of prioritizing military control over the Gaza-Egypt border at the expense of efforts to free Israeli hostages.
The main point of contention in the negotiations is currently the question of how long Israeli troops will be allowed to remain in the Philadelphia Corridor. Israel’s security cabinet recently voted to retain control of the corridor.
Israel claims that there are several Hamas tunnels under the corridor that allow arms smuggling between Egypt and Gaza. Egypt denies this claim.
“Your decisions will lead to their death,” Israeli media quoted a man whose brother is still trapped in the Gaza Strip as saying in a speech.
Protests also took place outside Netanyahu’s home, hours after the funeral of a dead hostage, with hundreds of participants.
