Top US official says transferring arms to north Gaza would violate ceasefire

A senior Biden administration official is asked during a briefing about the two main sticking points in the hostage talks, which are the prevention of armed Palestinians from traveling from southern to northern Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from flashpoint areas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began insisting last month that a mechanism is being established to ensure that no armed Palestinians reached northern Gaza, going further from the proposal’s text which spoke more generally about it.

“It is stipulated in the deal that displaced persons going from south to north be civilians without arms. That is a core provision of the deal. The Israelis want to make sure that that provision is followed through,” the senior US official explains.

“We believe, as do the other mediators… that if anyone is carrying arms from south to north, that would be a violation of the deal,” the official asserts. “That is something that was reaffirmed throughout the talks.

Notably, the senior official does not talk about the idea of establishing a mechanism for preventing such violations, as Netanyahu has demanded.

The other new demand Netanyahu began making last month pertained to Israeli troops remaining in the Philadelphi Corridor to prevent the smuggling of weapons from Egypt into Gaza.

“We’ve been working very closely with Egypt and others… about the arrangements in the Philadelphi Corridor. That issue is moving in the right way, and I think is very consistent with the May 27 text” submitted by Israel, the senior US official says, without elaborating.