Hamas digs in on demand for full IDF withdrawal from Gaza, including key corridor

Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya is accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday of deliberately stalling ceasefire negotiations, urging the US and the international community to put more pressure on Israel.

In a recorded speech released on Hamas’s official accounts, al-Hayya — who has been heading the group’s delegation to the ceasefire talks — reiterated their stance that it will not consider any proposed deal that does not entail a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and particularly from the Philadelphi Corridor, a key area along Gaza’s border with Egypt.

Netanyahu has in recent months insisted that Israel will maintain forces in the corridor, saying it is necessary to halt weapons smuggling into the Strip that would allow Hamas to re-arm. The condition was not included in previous versions of the ceasefire proposal before the current round of talks.

Egypt, which along with the US and Qatar is mediating the talks, has also been strongly opposed to Israel maintaining a military presence on the border.

Al-Hayya says Hamas “will not allow any agreement that legitimizes an Israeli presence on any part of Gaza or fails to secure our people’s rights.”

“We reject going back to square one or getting caught in a vicious cycle that serves Netanyahu’s goals,” he says.