Calls for “unity” against the “cruel enemy that wants to destroy us all”
September 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday defended his demand to maintain the Israeli military presence in the Philadelphia corridor separating the Gaza Strip from Egypt, one of the main obstacles to an agreement with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) that includes a ceasefire and the release of hostages kidnapped in the Gaza Strip.
“Three of the war’s objectives are directed at one place: the Philadelphia corridor,” Netanyahu said at a press conference in Jerusalem. Israel’s stated objectives are to eliminate Hamas, the return of all hostages, to ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat and to allow the population to return to northern Israel.
“It is the lifeline and the armament for Hamas. When we left Gaza and the Philadelphia corridor, the border between Gaza and Egypt, there was no barrier to the massive entry of weapons and machinery for the production of weapons and for digging tunnels, all with the sponsorship of Iran,” Netanyahu said in front of a map of the Gaza Strip to explain the strategic importance of the border.
The Israeli leader stressed that “if we do not have the corridor, a monster will be created” and, conversely, “the axis of evil needs the Philadelphia corridor and for that very reason we have to control it.
Netanyahu also attacked the Israeli opposition, which is demanding that he reach an agreement for the release of the hostages. He called for “unity” to achieve victory in the “war” against the “cruel enemy that wants to destroy us all,” after the mass demonstrations on Saturday and especially on Sunday, after the death of six of the hostages whose bodies were recovered by the Israeli military in the south of the Gaza Strip became known. This is Netanyahu’s first press conference in almost two months.
Along the same lines, he stated that “we are in the midst of an existential war against the axis of evil and the first condition for winning is unity. We have to unite as one man against the cruel enemy that wants to destroy us all, without exception,” he stated at the beginning of his appearance, and cited as proof the death of the last six hostages whose bodies the Army recovered over the weekend.
Netanyahu said he was able to speak with some of the families of the deceased and asked them for “forgiveness for not being able to bring them back alive.” “We were very close, but we didn’t succeed,” he stressed, before warning Hamas that “it will pay a very, very high price” for these deaths.
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