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.
According to a report by the Jewish Chronicle citing Israeli intelligence officials, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned to smuggle himself, other Hamas leaders, and the remaining Israeli hostages through the Philadelphi Corridor to Sinai and from there to Iran.
The report notes that the Hamas leader understands that the end of his organization is near and his only way out would be to sneak out of the Gaza Strip and flee to Iran.
This is likely why Sinwar is not fighting fiercely over the IDF clearing out of the Netzarim crossing, instead focusing on Philadelphi, since there is no way he can escape 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 this issue.
The Philadelphi corridor, a two-lane road across the southern Gaza Strip, was established in 1982 when Israel withdrew from Sinai following the Camp David Accords peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.