Netanyahu: ‘If we leave the Philadelphi corridor, it will be impossible to prevent Hamas not only from smuggling weapons into Gaza but also from smuggling hostages.’
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
During his press conference on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed the need for Israel to control the Philadelphi corridor not just to prevent weapons smuggling into Gaza but to keep Hamas from moving hostages out of Gaza.
“If we leave the Philadelphi corridor, it will be impossible to prevent Hamas not only from smuggling weapons into Gaza but also from smuggling hostages,” he said.
Netanyahu’s statement was based on documents discovered by the IDF when they recovered the 6 murdered hostages from Gaza on Saturday and from the interrogation of a high-ranking Hamas official.
There is some speculation that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar may feel that as the chances for his terror group achieving a military victory grow dim, he may decide to take hostages and other Hamas officials and escape to Iran, leaving Gaza through the Philadelphi corridor.
This may be a clue that Sinwar is not fighting so fiercely over having the IDF clear out of the Netzarim crossing but is instead focusing on Philadelphi since there is no way he can leave Gaza through Netzarim.
The fact that Israel has assassinated other Hamas leaders, such as Mohammed Deif and allegedly Ismail Haniyeh, may cause Sinwar to feel that escaping to Iran through the Philadelphi corridor and using hostages as human shields and bargaining chips may be his one chance at survival.
The desperation of Sinwar to have full control of the Philadelphi corridor for smuggling hostages and weapons and for escape may indicate there is little likelihood of a negotiation leading to a hostage release deal, since there is a significant amount of daylight between Sinwar and Netanyahu on the issue of the Philadelphi corridor.
The Philadelphi corridor was established in 1982 when Israel withdrew from Sinai following the Camp David Accords peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
The Philadelphi corridor is a two-lane road 14 km across the southern Gaza Strip.
The post Sinwar wants control of Philadelphi corridor to smuggle hostages to Iran appeared first on World Israel News.