Egypt may allow IDF to remain on Gaza border to prevent arms smuggling

Hamas has demanded Israel retreat from the Philadelphi Corridor as part of a hostage release and ceasefire deal.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

After insisting otherwise, Egypt may allow the IDF to remain at the border to prevent weapons smuggling into Gaza.

Egyptian officials told Times of Israel that there may be room for flexibility on this issue, to the chagrin of Hamas, which has demanded Israel retreat from the Philadelphi Corridor as part of a hostage release and ceasefire deal.

In May, when Israel was faced with the possibility of retreating from the 14-kilometer corridor, it met with Egypt and the US about the creation of an underground wall with a surveillance system.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected this solution, saying that the IDF’s presence in the Philadelphi corridor for security was non-negotiable.

Egypt’s new flexibility on this issue shows it is getting closer to Netanyahu’s version of a ceasefire deal and farther away from Hamas’s demands.

Initially, Egypt objected to Israel’s taking over the Gaza side of the Philadelphi corridor before the Rafah invasion. It said that the move jeopardized the peace treaty signed by Jerusalem and Cairo in 1979.

However, since Israel has remained firm in negotiations, Egypt has decided to allow Israel to stay because “They too don’t want Hamas to resume smuggling on the border,” the Israeli official said of Egypt.

In response to a blockade imposed by Egypt when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, Hamas built the underground tunnel system to facilitate weapons smuggling and to get around the embargo.

When Egypt fought against Islamic militants in Sinai, they discovered tunnels going into Gaza and destroyed hundreds of them.

However, the IDF continues to find more tunnels in Gaza, even though they have deactivated many.

Israel may be considering allowing the PA to rule the corridor after initially denying that the PA would be involved in the management of the border.