Despite PM’s new demand, Israel said in talks for tech system on Gaza-Egypt border, IDF withdrawal

Israeli and Egyptian ceasefire negotiators are in talks about an electronic surveillance system along the border between Gaza and Egypt and an Israeli withdrawal from the area if a ceasefire is agreed, according to two Egyptian sources and a third source familiar with the matter, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a new demand that the Jewish state remain in control of the key frontier.

The question of whether Israeli forces stay on the border is one of the issues blocking a potential ceasefire and hostage deal because both the Palestinian terror group Hamas and Egypt, a mediator in the talks, are opposed to Israel keeping its forces there.

Netanyahu said yesterday that any deal with Hamas must prevent weapons from being smuggled into Gaza from Egypt, “primarily by means of Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing.”

Israel is worried that if its troops leave the border zone, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, Hamas’s armed wing could smuggle in weapons and supplies from Egypt into Gaza via tunnels that would allow it to re-arm and again threaten the country, similar to what it did for years before carrying out the October 7 onslaught.

A surveillance system, if the parties to the negotiations agree on the details, could therefore smooth the path to agreeing a ceasefire — though numerous other stumbling blocks remain.

Discussions around a surveillance system on the border have been reported before, but the source says for the first time that Israel is engaging in the discussions as part of the current round of talks, with a view to pulling back forces from the border area.

The source familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, says the discussions are about “basically sensors that would be built on the Egyptian side of the Philadelphi [Corridor].”

“The idea is obviously to detect tunnels, to detect any other ways that they’d be trying to smuggle weapons or people into Gaza. Obviously, this would be a significant element in a hostage agreement.”

Asked if this would be significant for a ceasefire deal because it would mean Israeli soldiers would not have to be on the Philadelphi Corridor, the source says: “Correct.”

The two Egyptian security sources, also speaking on condition of anonymity, say Israeli negotiators have spoken about a high-tech surveillance system.

Egypt is not opposed to that, if it is supported and paid for by the United States, according to the two Egyptian sources. They say though that Egypt would not agree to anything that would change border arrangements between Israel and Egypt set out in the countries’ peace treaty.