US President Joe Biden on Friday expressed optimism about the negotiations underway to achieve a truce in the Gaza war that would allow the return of hostages still held there. After highlighting that the basis of the “comprehensive agreement” he proposed six weeks ago has been accepted by both Israel and Hamas, he added that the delegation he has in charge of the contacts is achieving positive results. “My team is making progress and I am determined to achieve this,” he said on his profile on the social network X (formerly Twitter). Despite everything, Biden acknowledges that “there is still work to be done” because “these are complex issues.”
Various delegations from the warring parties have been shuttling between Doha and Cairo for days amid the dispute between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders. For the Jewish state, it is essential to maintain the right to continue attacking once the hostages are released, more than 100 of whom around 40 are believed to be dead. The fundamentalists, for their part, want to secure a definitive cessation of hostilities with written guarantees.
Security along the twelve kilometres separating Egypt from Gaza, along the Rafah crossing, which Israel has controlled militarily since May, has become part of the negotiating table for a possible truce. Israel and Egypt are trying to agree on a new electronic security system with underground infrastructure to make it difficult for Hamas to use tunnels. According to the Israelis, this border demarcation, known as the Philadelphia corridor, is used by the fundamentalists to supply themselves with weapons, something that Cairo denies. The issue, of great importance to both sides, has strained the tension between the two governments in the last months of a war that began last October and has already left more than 38,000 dead in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu frequently refers to this border when trying to keep fundamentalists at bay. On Friday, Reuters reported that Israel would be considering leaving this area and looking for alternatives, if progress were made on the agreement. However, the news has been denied by Netanyahu. “The prime minister insists on Israel remaining in the Philadelphia corridor,” his office has published. In addition, they have insisted that “this is what he has ordered the negotiating team” sent to Egypt.
Reuters, meanwhile, cites two Egyptian sources and a third with ties to the mediation talks. Two of the officials involved in the talks to seek a ceasefire and the return of the hostages have confirmed that a possible deal on the border is being discussed, it reported. The Times of Israel.
Knowing what’s happening outside means understanding what’s going to happen inside, so don’t miss anything.
KEEP READING
The Gaza-Egypt border has been in Netanyahu’s crosshairs for months, with Netanyahu claiming that Hamas has used underground tunnels to smuggle weapons and men from Egypt into the Strip. Cairo, which has reinforced and militarized the border over the past decade as part of its aggressive anti-terrorist fight in the Sinai, denies Israel’s accusations, which it has also failed to provide any hard evidence despite occupying the area in violation of the peace treaty with Egypt.
The Rafah crossing and the narrow corridor have been a central topic of discussions held this week in Cairo between senior officials from Egypt, Israel and the United States, according to media from all three countries. The negotiations are taking place in parallel to those held in Doha, which are more focused on the possible truce and exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hamas, according to media in the region.
The biggest advances appear to be in the Philadelphia corridor, where both sides are considering installing an electronic surveillance system on the Egyptian side of the border, possibly with sensors and cameras, to which Israel has access, as well as underground infrastructure to detect possible smuggling tunnels, according to local media. Cairo is not opposed to the plan, provided it is supported and financed by the United States, which would also welcome the idea.
The possibility of installing an advanced security system along the border, however, has been discussed in the past, and one of the main obstacles remains the parallel withdrawal of Israeli soldiers occupying the area. In this regard, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has described as “absolutely false” a report that had circulated that Israel had for the first time discussed the possibility of withdrawing from the Philadelphia axis as part of an agreement.
On Sunday, Netanyahu outlined four red lines for the ongoing indirect negotiations with Hamas, including Israeli control of the Philadelphia axis and the Rafah crossing, a condition he repeated on Thursday as talks resumed in Cairo to partly address this issue. The Israeli leader’s remarks, which come at a key moment in the negotiations, have again drawn harsh criticism from those who accuse him of systematically trying to torpedo any progress.
The management of the Rafah border crossing appears to be an even more difficult issue to resolve. The crossing has been closed since May, when the Israeli army occupied the Palestinian side as part of its offensive against Rafah and the Philadelphia axis. Egypt – in an attempt to avoid validating the occupation – insists that its reopening will only occur after Israel withdraws and allows Palestinian officials to resume its management. Cairo has also refused to permanently redirect the Rafah movement to the Abu Salem crossing between Israel and Gaza, in order not to legitimize the new border crossing. status quo.
Israel, however, has so far been reluctant to even allow Palestinian Authority (PA) officials to be deployed at the Rafah crossing. However, Israel’s alternatives (such as handing over its management to a private company, Gazans opposed to Hamas or undercover PA members) have not come to fruition, according to local media. In May, the European Union was open to reactivating its civilian mission in Rafah, which was deployed between 2005 and 2007, but always as part of an agreement with the PA, Egypt and Israel, according to the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
Follow all the international information at Facebook and Xor in our weekly newsletter.
