Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fiercely defended his insistence on maintaining control of the strategically important Philadelphia Corridor, even as critics urged him to compromise on that point to try to secure a deal to free the hostages.
“What has changed? What has changed in this week?” Netanyahu said during an English-language news conference on Wednesday. “What has changed is that they murdered six of our hostages in cold blood.”
“Now the world will seriously demand that Israel make concessions after this massacre. What messages are being sent to Hamas?” he continued. “I'll tell you what the message is: if you kill more hostages, you will get more concessions. That is not only illogical, it is not only immoral, it is sheer madness. So it is not going to happen.”
“We had limits before the murder. They have not changed. We will respect them,” he insisted.
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Netanyahu made headlines last week when The Times of Israel reported that the prime minister told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that he was prioritizing the presence of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) along the 7.8-mile-long Philadelphia Corridor over saving the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
Histadrut, the country's largest union, urged Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire deal and ensure the release of all remaining hostages, seeking to pressure the government through a protest, which the labor court ultimately shut down, NPR reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference at the Government Press Office (GPO) in Jerusalem on September 4, 2024. (Abir Sultan/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The Philadelphia Corridor runs along the border between Gaza and Egypt, and is the area in which the Rafah crossing is located. Netanyahu has insisted that this corridor remains key to maintaining the country's defense and security in a post-Hamas state.
The statement was made public during a “heated security cabinet meeting” that further exposed the divide between the prime minister and the defense minister. Gallant also reportedly accused Netanyahu of imposing his own position on the security establishment.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant oversee a meeting at the Israeli Defense Ministry following the IDF's preemptive strikes against Hezbollah, August 25. (Israeli Government Press Office)
“Either you keep the Israel Defense Forces deployed in the Philadelphia Corridor or you bring the hostages home. They are deciding to stay in the Philadelphia Corridor. Does that make sense to you?” Gallant said, according to a transcript of the meeting. “There are live hostages there.”
When Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer responded that the prime minister “can do whatever he wants,” Gallant replied that Netanyahu “can also decide to have all the hostages killed,” prompting a backlash from the other ministers, according to the Times of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to a map of the Gaza Strip during a press conference at the Government Press Office (GPO) in Jerusalem on September 4, 2024. (Abir Sultan/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
A poll conducted after the meeting concluded with an eight-to-one vote in favor of maintaining the presence in the corridor. Netanyahu ultimately found it vital to explain to the public his reason for insisting on that continued presence, leading to Wednesday's press conference.
Netanyahu listed some examples of past deals that the US and negotiators offered and Israel accepted, but stressed that each time Hamas stood aside and rejected the agreements that were on the table.
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Israeli troops patrol the Philadelphia corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border. (Photo: TPS-IL) (TPS-IL)
“Where I have to be firm, I am, and where I have to be flexible, I have been, but the obstacle has been Hamas from the beginning. Everyone knows that,” Netanyahu said, stressing that Hamas did not agree to any version of a deal, making it irrelevant to ask whether Israel insisted on control of the corridor in previous agreements.
A defiant Netanyahu, answering questions from reporters, underlined his commitment to the country's defense and security at any cost, declaring that Israel would continue its various humanitarian policies, which he insisted have so far proven effective.
Demonstrators hold signs during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on September 4, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
He went on to stress the need to include a presence along the Philadelphia Corridor in any ceasefire agreement, or he feared a “repeat of what happened there before,” referring to the Oct. 7 attack.
Responding to a question about former hostage Aviva Siegel, who told a reporter that Netanyahu was “condemning her husband” to death by insisting on keeping the Philadelphia Corridor, Netanyahu said control of the corridor is the only reason Hamas has budged in negotiations and the only way they will continue to budge on Israel's points.
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American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five others were brutally murdered by Hamas just before the rescue (Fox News)
“I will do everything I can to make sure that Keith and all the other hostages come back,” Netanyahu said. “I tell you that if we ease the pressure, if we leave the Philadelphia Corridor, we will not get the hostages back.”
“We will certainly force many of them to stay there. We can take some out, they will give it to us, but they will keep many more,” Netanyahu argued. “We will not have the pressure point and something else will happen. We will not be able to go back.”
