Argaman, who headed the Shin Bet between 2016 and 2021, said the majority of weapons entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.
“When Netanyahu speaks of remaining on the Philadelphi Corridor, he knows very well that no smuggling takes place over the Philadelphi Corridor. So we are now relegated to living with this imaginary figment,” he said.
According to Netanyahu, the best way to prevent these Hamas hostage smuggling efforts is through maintaining the contested Philadelphi Route – a security corridor that runs between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Unnamed senior officials tell Channel 12 news that mediators in ceasefire-hostage deal talks have decided to set aside the thorny issue of Israel’s presence in two Gaza corridors under a potential agreement, and are focusing on other matters.
(May 30, 2024)
Just 14 kilometers (about 8.7 miles) long and 100 meters wide, the strip of land is a central part of a peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979, which ended decades of war. Until the treaty, the two countries had been at war since Israel’s founding in 1948.
Egypt stressed to all concerned parties its rejection to any Israeli presence in Rafah Border Crossing or Philadelphi Corridor, a high-profile source told Egyptian media Monday.