US: Israel agreed to withdraw from parts of Philadelphi as part of hostage deal
Kirby says proposal requires pullout from crowded areas of corridor in phase 1 after PM claimed IDF will control it indefinitely; Barnea told Qatar Israel would fully withdraw in phase 2
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The White House declared Tuesday that its latest, Israel-backed hostage deal proposal includes an IDF withdrawal from heavily populated areas along the Philadelphi Corridor, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel must indefinitely maintain a presence along the Egypt-Gaza border stretch.
“The deal itself, including the bridging proposal that we started working with… includes the removal of Israeli Defense Forces from all densely populated areas… in phase one… and that includes those areas along and adjacent to that corridor,” said White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby in a briefing with reporters. “That’s the proposal that Israel had agreed to.”
However, Kirby declined to clarify whether this means that the US supports allowing Israeli troops to remain in less densely populated areas along the Philadelphi Corridor during the six-week, first phase of the deal.
Regardless, the second phase of the framework requires a full Israeli withdrawal from the entirety of Gaza — a clause that Netanyahu’s Monday remarks appeared to contradict.
While reiterating the deal’s requirement for Israel to at least partially withdraw from the Philadelphi in phase one, the White House spokesperson acknowledged that Jerusalem is publicly stressing that it “would need some security along that corridor.”
“I’m not going to get into a debate with the prime minister over what he said over the weekend,” Kirby added.
In a subsequent briefing with reporters on Tuesday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US has “made very clear what we believe about the possibility of an ongoing Israeli presence in Gaza — that we [are] opposed to it.”
Miller also reiterated Kirby’s comments about an Israeli agreement to withdraw from populated areas along the Philadelphi Corridor, adding that “there are a number of details that require further negotiation to conclude how the parties will live up to their commitments under the agreement.”
In a live primetime address on Monday, Netanyahu argued that allowing troops to withdraw from the nine-mile border stretch would result in arms and equipment for making weapons and digging tunnels again being smuggled into the Strip and the possibility of hostages being smuggled out.
He said Israel would retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor for the foreseeable future, describing its presence there as crucial to preventing Hamas from rearming, and vital to Israel’s future.
Hours before Netanyahu’s press conference, though, Mossad chief David Barnea flew urgently to Doha in order to inform Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani that Israel was still prepared to fully withdraw its forces from the Philadelphi Corridor in the second phase of the hostage deal, an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel, confirming a report in the Haaretz daily.
Notably, Netanyahu’s office did not deny the report, instead arguing that the security cabinet had not yet discussed the second phase of the deal.
Netanyahu was asked during his Monday press conference to explain how his talk of indefinite IDF control of the Philadelphi Corridor squared with his authorization of a proposal in late May that included a full IDF withdrawal from the entirety of Gaza in the second phase of the deal.
Netanyahu responded that he was only speaking about the deal’s first phase.
“The proposal I agreed to talks about a first phase of 42 days, after which we can return to fighting if an agreement is not reached in the negotiations,” the premier said. The deal still requires the sides to hold talks during phase one to determine the exact terms of phase two, which is a permanent ceasefire. Phase one is also allowed to extend beyond six weeks if the sides are still negotiating in good faith, and Israel’s ability to resume the war does not appear to be as definitive as Netanyahu presented it.
“If a permanent settlement is reached for someone else to deal… with securing of the borders of Gaza, [that would be welcome]. I currently don’t see it on the horizon,” he continued, quipping that he hoped a credible alternative to the IDF’s presence on the Philadelphi will be found before the Messiah comes.
“We’re currently talking about phase one. Phase two is still before us,” Netanyahu said.
He explained that he agreed to reduce the number of Israeli troops stationed along the Philadelphi Corridor during phase one of the deal because there is currently a division and a half deployed there, which is far more than what the IDF will need.
“We don’t need to be there with a massive force, just with a sufficiently sized one,” Netanyahu said, adding that the Israeli troops would be stationed at a number of points along the route and have the ability to patrol throughout its entirety from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
There is no replacement for the IDF’s physical presence along the corridor — neither sensors nor alternative forces — Netanyahu said.
Kirby on Tuesday said that Hamas’s “execution” of six Israeli hostages last week has influenced the way that ceasefire negotiations are being held but that it only underscored further the importance of securing a deal.
“I’d be lying to you if I said that the work going on yesterday, today, tomorrow and the days ahead [is] not going to be informed, shaped or colored by our own grief, sorrow, shock and outrage about what Hamas did.”
Calling executed Israeli-US hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin “an American hero,” Miller said, “We grieve for all of them, and we demand justice for all of them.”
Asked how justice can be served, Miller responded that it can be secured either in the Israeli judicial system, the American judicial system or on the battlefield. He acknowledges that it might not be possible to determine who the individuals behind the hostages’ execution were, the US holds Hamas’s leadership responsible.
“The United States has shown that we have a long memory when it comes to bringing to justice those responsible for the deaths of American citizens,” Miller said.
Commenting on the Hamas leadership’s order to fighters responsible for guarding the hostages to kill them if they sense that Israeli troops are nearing, the State Department spokesperson said it highlights the difference between Israel and the terror group. It “shows what a depraved organization Hamas actually is.”
“Tragically, any deal to bring home the hostages will come too late for [Goldberg-Polin], but there are dozens of hostages still remaining in Gaza, still waiting for a deal that will bring them home,” Miller said. “It is time to finalize that deal. The people of Israel cannot afford to wait any longer. The Palestinian people, who are also suffering the terrible effects of this war, cannot afford to wait any longer.”
US President Joe Biden said Monday that Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a deal, and said his administration is “very close” to presenting a final hostage deal offer later this week.
The Walla news site reported that during Barnea’s Monday meeting with Al-Thani, the Qatari premier told the Mossad chief to urge Netanyahu to show more flexibility on several key issues, including the Philadelphi Corridor.
An Israeli official told Walla that neither Israel nor Hamas will the US proposal will include clauses that upset both Israel and Hamas and that both sides will be pushed to accept it.
Miller admitted that hostage negotiations aren’t currently taking place, but clarified that the work toward an agreement is ongoing.
“Ultimately, finalizing an agreement will require both sides to show flexibility. It will require that both sides look for reasons to get to ‘yes’ rather than reasons to say ‘no,'” he said.
Kirby and Miller, meanwhile, appeared to walk back the White House’s earlier characterization of the bridging proposal for a hostage deal that it submitted last month to Israel and Hamas as “final,” declining to use the terminology.
A senior administration official briefing reporters on August 16, the day that the proposal was submitted, repeatedly called it a “final bridging proposal.”
The shift from the White House appears to be an admission that the offer it presented last month will still undergo significant changes or will be tossed out entirely.
Miller reiterated that Israel has accepted the US bridging proposal and stressed that Hamas still must do the same, but then appeared to effectively diminish the significance of the move, explaining that accepting the bridging proposal doesn’t amount to accepting its implementation.
“The bridging proposal [isn’t] the end of the road. There are a number of implementing details that we need to reach agreement on,” Miller said.
