Netanyahu vows he will never surrender 'military and political assets in Gaza'

During a meeting with relatives of Israeli captives in Gaza and families of terror victims, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to resist intense foreign pressure to relinquish key strategic areas in central and southern Gaza in exchange for a hostage deal.

On Tuesday, after meeting with the hostage relatives, Netanyahu vowed that Israel would maintain control over these crucial regions in the Gaza Strip. He pledged to ignore both foreign and domestic pressure to reach a compromise with Hamas that would lead to a hostage deal and ceasefire.

Netanyahu declared that Israel would never agree to Hamas' demand for the IDF to give up control of the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along Gaza’s southern border and separates the Gaza Strip from the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt. He also emphasized that Israel would not relinquish control over the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, which divides Gaza City in the north from Khan Younis and Rafah in the south.“Israel will not leave, under any circumstances, the Philadelphi Route or the Netzarim Corridor, despite incredible pressure to do so. These are strategic assets, both military and political.”

Hamas has demanded that Israel withdraw from both areas as a condition for releasing hostages and has insisted that any agreement include a permanent truce to end the current conflict.

Tzvika Mor, the father of Eitan Mor, a security guard taken hostage at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th and held since then in Gaza, told Galei Yisrael that Netanyahu expressed pessimism about the chances of reaching a deal with Hamas.

“From what I could tell, the prime minister doesn’t think there will be an agreement. We also see that Hamas is consistently refusing, and in the meantime we are doing our best to hit Hamas until they are defeated.”

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