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Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to “surrender” to pressure to agree a hostage deal or end the Gaza war, dismissing widespread protests in Israel as he doubled down on his main demands for a ceasefire.
In a defiant late-night press conference, Israel’s prime minister insisted on a long-term military presence along Gaza’s border with Egypt, even as international mediators and his own security chiefs warn that it would hold up a deal to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The uncompromising tone came after a day of disruption across Israel during a general strike called to express public anger at Netanyahu’s failure to secure a hostage deal.
It followed a second straight night of mass street protests after the murder of six Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity over the weekend. Hamas has suggested they died in an Israeli air strike, a claim the Israeli military has rejected as “psychological terror”.
“No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me. But no one will preach to me,” Netanyahu said.
The strike was one of the biggest expressions of public anger at Netanyahu’s government since Hamas’s attack on October 7 and is the first widespread industrial action.
Despite pleas from Washington to show flexibility to enable a hostages-for-ceasefire deal, Netanyahu held firm on maintaining Israeli control of the so-called Philadelphi corridor, now considered the major stumbling block facing negotiators.
“This corridor is essential for our existence,” Netanyahu said on Monday night, arguing that the frontier was the “oxygen pipe” that allowed Hamas to smuggle weapons into Gaza and “turn into a monster”.
“For this reason Hamas is insisting on it. And for the same reason I’m insisting on it,” Netanyahu added.
But US President Joe Biden expressed his impatience with the Israeli leader’s negotiating stance earlier on Monday. Asked whether Netanyahu was doing enough to enable a deal, Biden responded: “No”.
When queried about the US president’s remarks, Netanyahu told reporters that he “didn’t believe President Biden said that”, and highlighted what he claimed were statements by US officials in recent months pointing to Israeli flexibility in the long-stalled negotiations.
Yet the long-serving premier, in a 15-minute lecture replete with maps, vowed to never leave the Philadelphi corridor — a position ratified by the Israeli cabinet in a vote late last week.
Israel’s security chiefs, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, have defended such a withdrawal as a bearable step if it secured the release of hostages.
Some 101 hostages seized by Hamas, including foreign nationals, remain in captivity. Israeli intelligence believe that at least a third, but likely more, are dead.
Asked about the difference of opinion with his own defence minister, Netanyahu said that he “expected all ministers to be bound by cabinet decisions”. While stopping short of a promise to keep Gallant in post, Netanyahu said he could remain in cabinet “so long as there is trust”.
“When we have our boot on [Hamas’s] skull, that’s when they want us to make concessions?” Netanyahu asked, as he argued that only additional pressure would force Hamas to compromise.
“When [Hamas] understands we’re not ending the war, he’ll give in.”