Egypt says it’ll remain in control of its Gaza border after PM suggests Israel might take it over

The spokesperson for Egypt’s foreign ministry says Cairo will remain in control of its borders after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed during a press conference earlier this evening that Israel is considering taking control after the war over the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs for 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) along the Gaza-Egypt border.

“Egypt fully controls its borders and controls it completely, and these issues are subject to legal and security agreements between the countries involved, so any talk on this matter is generally subject to scrutiny and is responded to with declared positions,” Ahmed Abu Zeid says during an interview with Egyptian television channel Sada El-Balad.

Asked if Israel intends to reestablish control over the Philadelphi Corridor, Netanyahu replied that this was “one possibility for what I call a southern barrier.”

“We have made it clear from day one that any decisions that hinder the entry of aid are essentially Israeli measures and it comes through various methods, including strictness in inspecting trucks, wasting a lot of time in the inspection process, prohibiting and obstructing the entry of medical aid, and obstructing the entry of journalists and officials,” Netanyahu said.

Abu Zeid goes on to blame Israel for the limited amount of humanitarian aid that has entered Gaza.

“We have made it clear from day one that any decisions that hinder the entry of aid are essentially Israeli measures and it comes through various methods, including strictness in inspecting trucks, wasting a lot of time in the inspection process, prohibiting and obstructing the entry of medical aid, and obstructing the entry of journalists and officials,” he says.

Israel argues that inefficiencies by Egyptian and UN representatives at the border are what has caused the bottlenecks in aid.