GreenBoys Posted August 25, 2024 Posted August 25, 2024 The office of Mr Netanyahu reiterated on Wednesday that Israel planned to keep troops in a strip of land along the border between Gaza and Egypt - known as the Philadelphi Corridor - in the event of any such deal. “Israel will insist on the achievement of all of its objectives for the war, as they have been defined by the security cabinet, including that Gaza never again constitutes a security threat to Israel. This requires securing the southern border,” a statement said. The issue has become a key sticking point - with Hamas so far insisting on a total withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Egypt also opposes the presence of Israeli troops along its border with Gaza. On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel had agreed to a “US bridging proposal”, after a three-hour meeting with Mr Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Mr Blinken would not confirm to the BBC whether the US proposal sti[CENSORED]ted the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphi corridor, but Mr Netanyahu’s repeated public insistence on the plan appears to have irritated Washington. A US official accused the prime minister of making “maximalist statements” that were “not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line”. A new round of ceasefire talks is set to take place in Cairo this weekend, with US, Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari representatives in attendance. Hamas has so far not said they will attend, but it is believed they are continuing to receive updates on the negotiations from Egyptian and Qatari mediators. A member of the Hamas political bureau told the BBC on Monday that the group had “agreed a deal [through mediators] on 2 July” and therefore “don't need a new round of negotiations or to discuss the new demands of Benjamin Netanyahu”. “We have shown maximum flexibility and positivity,” Basem Naim said. He claimed that Mr Netanyahu was “not interested in reaching a ceasefire, only in flaring up the region... and serving his own personal political interests". https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze5r4e66ydo
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