https://arab.news/rqjzd
- “Israel will insist on the achievement of all of its objectives for the war… including that Gaza never again constitutes a security threat to Israel”: Netahyahu’s office
JERUSALEM: Israel has not agreed to withdraw its troops from the so-called Philadelphi corridor along the border between Egypt and Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday, denying an Israeli television report.
“Israel will insist on the achievement of all of its objectives for the war, as they have been defined by the Security Cabinet, including that Gaza never again constitutes a security threat to Israel. This requires securing the southern border,” Netahyahu’s office said in a statement.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Wednesday about ways to advance a potential Gaza ceasefire and hostages deal, the White House said.
The call followed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s whirlwind trip to the Middle East that ended on Tuesday without an agreement between Israel and Hamas militants on a truce in the Palestinian enclave.
Blinken and mediators from Egypt and Qatar have pinned their hopes on a US “bridging proposal” aimed at narrowing the gaps between the two sides in the 10-month-old Gaza war.
“President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to discuss the ceasefire and hostage release deal and diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions,” a White House statement said.