Bethan McKernan
The Guardian / September 3, 2024
Political rival says PM ‘sees himself as the state’ after Netanyahu speech ruling out Gaza ceasefire concessions.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s main political rival, Benny Gantz, has accused the Israeli prime minister of putting his personal interests before those of his country after he again insisted on the need for Israeli control of the Gaza-Egypt border on Monday, a position that has emerged as a key obstacle to a ceasefire deal.
Speaking in Tel Aviv at the Israel Bar Association’s annual conference on Tuesday, the centre-right National Unity party leader said Netanyahu had “lost his way” and “sees himself as the state … this is dangerous,” he said.
Netanyahu insisted on Monday night that Israel must retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt, a stance that he has been warned jeopardizes efforts aimed at brokering a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the war with Hamas.
In a press conference on Tuesday evening, Gantz said that while the corridor was important to prevent Hamas and other Palestinian militants from smuggling weapons into Gaza, soldiers would be “sitting ducks” and would not stop tunnels.
He also rebutted Netanyahu’s assertion that if Israel were to withdraw from Philadelphi, international pressure would make it difficult to return. “We will be able to return to Philadelphi if and when we are required,” Gantz said, also calling for new elections. “If Netanyahu does not understand that after 7 October everything has changed … and if he is not strong enough to withstand the international pressure to return to Philadelphi, let him put down the keys and go home.”
Netanyahu has not made regular speeches since 7 October, but gave a televised address on Monday in response to unprecedented protests across Israel in favour of a deal and a general strike prompted by the discovery of six murdered hostages in Gaza. The prime minister ruled out making any “concessions” in the stalled talks or “giving in to pressure” to end the war, which is approaching its 12th month.
An unnamed source familiar with the protracted negotiations told CNN: “This guy torpedoed everything in one speech.”
In July, Hamas and Israel agreed in principle to implement a three-phase plan publicly proposed by Joe Biden in May. Hamas has since said the latest version of the proposal on the table diverges significantly from the initial plan because new Israeli demands have been added, including a permanent Israeli military deployment along the Gaza-Egypt border and the Netzarim Corridor, the new Israeli-controlled barrier cutting off Gaza City from the south of the strip.
Hamas has long demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Egypt has said that a heavy Israeli military presence on its border threatens the peace treaty between the countries.
The future of Philadelphi has also caused friction within Netanyahu’s cabinet: his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has publicly called for the Israeli leader to compromise on the issue, arguing that a deal that frees hostages in Gaza should be the government’s top priority.
Three of the six hostages the Israeli military said were shot in the head shortly before troops arrived in the area – two women and an injured man – were due to be released in the first stage of a ceasefire agreement.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, on Tuesday called for an independent investigation. “We are horrified by reports that Palestinian armed groups summarily executed six Israeli hostages, which would constitute a war crime,” the UN human rights office wrote on X.
Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday and Monday to express anger over their deaths and protest against the government’s handling of the war. Traffic in central Tel Aviv was blocked by demonstrators for a third straight day on Tuesday.
Many Israelis other than Gantz accuse the prime minister of valuing his political survival more than the hostages’ lives: a ceasefire deal could cause Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners to abandon the government, triggering new elections. The longtime leader sees staying in office as the best way of beating a litany of corruption charges. He denies the allegations.
“Hamas was the one that pulled the trigger, but Netanyahu is the one who sentenced [the hostages] to death,” said an editorial in the liberal newspaper Haaretz.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that the Biden administration was preparing to propose a “take it or leave it” deal after the latest round of talks collapsed again last week. If the new effort fails, the US may pull out of the mediation process, the paper said.
In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes and ground fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas continue unabated. On Tuesday, a civil defence spokesperson in the Palestinian territory said an Israeli raid on a college in Gaza City had killed two people and injured 30. Israel said that Hamas militants were using the educational facility as a base.
Another two people were killed by the bombing of a displacement camp near the southern city of Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, the IDF has changed its policy towards the escalating violence in the occupied West Bank, and now considers the territory a “secondary front”, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
Last week, Israel launched its biggest military operation in the West Bank for 20 years, with simultaneous raids targeting militant groups based in refugee camps, after a rare suicide bombing attempt in Tel Aviv claimed by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The violence in the area has also been fueled by the actions of far-right settlers and their backers in Netanyahu’s coalition.
In recent weeks, Israeli defence officials have voiced concerns that the situation in the West Bank could boil over, even as the war in Gaza continues and tensions remain high with Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon.
Bethan McKernan is Jerusalem correspondent for The Guardian
