Report: Netanyahu wanted to hold cabinet meeting at Gaza-Egypt border, was rebuffed
Premier said to have approached Shin Bet head Ronen Bar to inquire about the possibility but was turned down due to magnitude of security that would be required
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently examined the possibility of holding a security cabinet meeting at the Philadelphi Corridor, the Gaza-Egypt border route that has become a sticking point in hostage deal negotiations in recent weeks, but was rebuffed, according to a report Wednesday.
Citing unnamed sources close to Netanyahu, Channel 12 reported that the premier had asked the head of the Shin Bet security agency, Ronen Bar, whether cabinet ministers could travel to a meeting on the Philadelphi Corridor in armored personnel carriers.
The meeting would serve as an opportunity to show ministers the area, which Netanyahu has insisted must remain under IDF control even in the event of a hostage release-ceasefire deal, and to persuade them to back his demand, the report stated.
It added that by taking the dramatic step of holding a cabinet meeting at the site of the border route, Netanyahu believed that he would be able to demonstrate that the demand was serious.
Bar refused to entertain the request, however, the report added, due to the magnitude of security that would be needed for such an unprecedented event in an active war zone.
The Shin Bet declined to comment on the report, saying that it does not discuss “security arrangements and dialogue between the head of the Shin Bet and the political echelon.”
Netanyahu’s office also declined to comment.
The narrow 14.5 kilometer-long (9 miles) stretch of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt has become a point of contention during months of on-off negotiations for a hostage release-ceasefire deal.
Netanyahu has refused to back down from the demand that Israeli troops remain stationed there, insisting that an Israeli presence is vital to preventing Hamas from rearming by smuggling weapons through tunnels under the border, while Hamas and Egypt want to see Israeli forces withdraw entirely.
In addition to the Philadelphi Corridor, Netanyahu’s demands for a deal include keeping troops deployed along the Netzarim Corridor, an east-west strip that prevents the free movement of Palestinians between north and south Gaza.
It was reported in recent days that mediators negotiating a deal in Doha and Cairo had set aside the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor, at least for the time being, in favor of trying to reach agreements on other matters before returning to it.
Areas of contention that were being discussed were said to include Israel’s ability to veto the release of some Palestinian security prisoners and exile others, including convicted murderers, and how many living hostages Israel will get back during the proposed deal’s six-week first phase.
The war in Gaza erupted with the shock Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were slaughtered and 251 were seized as hostages.
Of that number, 104 hostages remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 30 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
