Cairo, July 13 (IANS) There are still outstanding points that hinder the Gaza truce negotiations, the media reported, citing a top source.
The news did not specify what those outstanding points are, but Hamas on Friday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing reaching the ceasefire agreement by insisting on his country’s control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the area between Gaza and Egypt, Xinhua news agency reported.
Netanyahu emphasised on Thursday that to prevent “the smuggling of weapons” to Hamas from Egypt, Israel must control the Philadelphi Corridor, as well as the Rafah crossing.
The crossing was an important entry point for aid from Egypt into Gaza before it was closed in early May after Israeli troops assumed control over its Palestinian side.
Meanwhile, the source denied reports about Egyptian-Israeli security arrangements regarding the control of the border between Egypt and Gaza, saying these are Israeli “rumours” aiming to “hide their failures in Gaza”.
Egypt has repeatedly denied any coordination with the Israeli side concerning the border with Gaza while rejecting multiple Israeli suggestions to co-manage the crossing, a top source said in previous remarks to Al-Qahera News TV.
Egypt has also stressed that only the Egyptians and Palestinians have the right to manage the crossing, demanding the withdrawal of the Israeli troops from the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.
For months, mediators from Egypt and Qatar have been trying to broker an agreement to end the conflict in Gaza that has been going on for over nine months, and to return the more than 100 Israeli hostages still being held there.
Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage.
According to Gaza health authorities, the Israeli offensive has led to the killing of more than 38,000 Palestinians in the enclave, while the UN estimates that nearly two million people there have been internally displaced.
–IANS
int/khz
