Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rare apology to the families of the six executed hostages but insisted that he would not cave on the issue of retaining a military force in the Philadelphi Corridor.
“My heart and the heart of the nation is shattered into pieces,” Netanyahu said in a special press conference in which he defended his unwavering stance in the face of criticism that he was thwarting a deal.
He spoke as the death of the hostages shot at close range by their captors over the week rocked the nation, with the country’s largest union holding a national strike demanding an immediate deal.
To the families of the six hostages, he said, “I ask for your forgiveness that we did not succeed in bringing them home alive. We were close, but we did not make it.”
Netanyahu stressed, “I am working around the clock, looking for every path possible” to bring the remaining 101 hostages back to Israel.
“I have insisted on the return of the maximal number of live hostages,” he said, as he explained that at present he has brought that number up to 23 in the first phase, it's estimated that some 66 captives are still alive.
Earlier in the day, US President Joe Biden blamed both Netanyahu and Hamas for the absence of a deal.
Biden spoke with reporters prior to his meeting with members of his negotiating team at the White House on Monday, after hearing that one of the six captives was Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23.
He appeared to confirm reports that the US would soon present a final hostage deal to Israel and Hamas.
“We’re very close to that,” he said when asked about that report. He was also quizzed as to why this effort would be successful when past initiatives had failed.“Hope springs eternal,” Biden said in response, adding “We’re not giving up. We’re going to continue to push as hard as we can.”
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters that Biden’s comments were an acknowledgment that Netanyahu was undermining efforts.
Zuhri added that any proposal for a permanent ceasefire and complete Israeli withdrawal would be received positively, stressing that both steps were needed for a deal.
In his press conference on Monday night, Netanyahu dismissed criticism from Washington noting that just five days ago senior US officials were talking about Israel’s flexibility and determination to reach a deal.
Philadelphi is non-negotiable
“I want to ask you something, what has changed in the last five days? What has changed?
“One thing: These murderers executed six of our hostages. They shot them in the back of the head. That’s what’s changed, and now after this, we’re asked to show seriousness. We’re asked to make concessions. What message does this send Hamas?
“It says, kill more hostages. Murder more hostages. You’ll get more concessions. The pressure internationally should be directed at these killers, at Hamas, not at Israel,” Netanyahu said.
“We say yes, they say no all the time, but they also murdered these people and now we need maximum pressure on Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
“I don’t believe that either President Biden or anyone serious about achieving peace and achieving the release [of the hostages] would” press Israel rather than “Hamas has to make the concessions,” Netanyahu said.
“We agreed to the outline presented by President Biden on May 31. We agreed to what they called "the final mediation text" on August 16 - we agreed to all of that. Hamas refused. Retaining the Philadelphi Corridor, he stressed, makes it more possible to reach a deal.
“The moment Hamas understands” that Israel won’t leave that corridor, “we will have a deal,” Netanyahu explained.
This stance helps Israel return the hostages and achieve the goals of the Gaza war; freeing the captives, destroying Hamas, and ensuring that the enclave doesn’t pose a danger to Israel.
Netanyahu spent the bulk of his press conference defending his decision to hold fast to the Philadelphi, a critical buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza under which Hamas smuggled weapons that allowed it to carry out the October 7 attack and launch rockets against Israel for years.
Once Israel left the Philadelphi Corridor in 2005 during the Gaza pullout, there was a “massive introduction of weapons, munitions, machines for producing weapons and machines for digging tunnels - all sponsored by Iran, directed by Iran, financed by Iran.”
That “axis of evil” needs to regain control of Philadelphi Corridor, Netanyahu said, adding that “Hamas insists for this reason that we will not be there, and for this reason, I insist that we will be there.”
He made use of a large map of Gaza, to show the dangers of withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor, adding that there was also a danger that Hamas could smuggle hostages out of Gaza and possibly as far as Iran unless Israel remained there.
Security officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, have said that Israel can afford to withdraw temporarily from the Philadelphi Corridor to allow for the fulfillment of the first phase of the hostage deal. Issues such as the future of the Philadelphi Corridor and a permanent ceasefire would be negotiated concurrently.
Netanyahu pushed back, noting that defense officials have a long history of giving security advice that has proved to be erroneous.
He said that once Israel leaves the Philadelphi it will never be allowed to return, explaining that in the end, this wasn’t purely a military issue, but also a diplomatic one that had to take into account broader strategy.This isn’t a security issue, this is about a national geopolitical strategy,” he said.
Israel “will not give up on existential issues, but we have been flexible on many other things” that are elements of the deal, he said.
Netanyahu also spoke of the importance of returning the more than 60,000 residents of the north who have not been able to safely live in their homes since October 8, due to the cross-border war between Hezbollah and the IDF.
Ending the conflict in the north, he said, is the fourth goal of the war.
Both the war along Israel’s southern and northern border, Netanyahu said, are part of Israel’s larger war against Iran’s axis of evil.”
The divisions in Israeli society, such as over the hostage deal, only strengthen Israel’s enemies such as Iran and its proxy group, Netanyahu explained.
“The first condition for victory in this existential war is unity within us,” he stressed. “Hamas uses the tactic of splitting us, dividing us, weakening us, and finally subduing us,” Netanyahu said.
He presented Arabic documents found in Gaza outlining Hamas’s plan to sow division within Israeli society including through images and videos of hostages by way of increasing psychological pressure for a deal.
The Hamas strategy is also focused on blaming him for the current situation, Netanyahu said.
In a message to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, he said, this strategy won’t succeed, “forget it. It won't be.
We need to stand united for our existential interest,” Netanyahu said.