Netanyahu rules out imminent ceasefire deal with Hamas

September 5 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has clarified that there is no prospect of an agreement with Hamas to implement a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in the near future, saying that reports or statements suggesting otherwise are “false.”

Netanyahu explained in an interview with the American channel Fox News that his government has agreed to some proposals from the United States, Egypt and Qatar, mediators in the process, and that it is Hamas that “systematically” rejects “each and every one” of the measures put on the table.

“They just want us to leave Gaza so they can take it back and do what they promised,” said Netanyahu, who fears for Israel’s security if his troops abandon the Palestinian enclave or at least key points such as the Philadelphia corridor on the border with Egypt.

Controlling this corridor, he explained, “prevents Gaza from becoming an Iranian terrorist enclave again” and prevents Hamas militants from being able to take the hostages they still hold towards the Sinai Peninsula and then “disappear,” perhaps “forever.”

“So if we want to free the hostages and ensure that Gaza does not represent a threat to Israel, we must maintain the Philadelphia corridor, which is exactly what we are doing,” said the Israeli prime minister, who insisted that his government is “working hard” to recover those still held hostage.