Israeli PM doubles down on controlling Egypt–Gaza border after six more hostages murdered

In the wake of more murders of hostages by Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on Israel's maintaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the nearly nine-mile border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Israel captured that sector during its counteroffensive against Hamas after the Oct. 7 terror attacks.

Netanyahu outlined Israel's need to keep the border at a press conference on Monday after Hamas announced having murdered another six Israeli hostages on Saturday. Netanyahu called for unity among the Israeli people as they fight "an existential war."

"We need to stand united as one against a brutal enemy who wants to destroy all of us, without exception – left and right, religious and secular, Jew and non-Jew," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu then outlined Israel's war objectives: "Eliminating Hamas, returning all of the hostages, ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel, and returning our residents securely to their homes on the northern border."

"Three of these goals pass through one place: The Philadelphi Corridor," Netanyahu added. "This is Hamas's lifeline and armament line." Netanyahu then gave a detailed presentation on why Israel must retain the Philadelphi Corridor by focusing on what happened when Israel previously withdrew from the Philadelphi Corridor:

What happened is that the borders remained in our possession. . . . [T]he moment we left the Philadelphi Corridor . . . we did not have any barrier to the massive infiltration of weapons, war materiel, machinery to manufacture rockets, and machines for excavating tunnels. . . . All the things that you see here came in. Gaza became a massive threat to the State of Israel because there was no barrier here (on the Philadelphi Corridor). This is what happened.

Hamas has demanded that Israel withdraw its forces from the Philadelphi Corridor as part of ceasefire negotiations, but Israel has resisted returning control of the border to Hamas for fear of Iran continuing to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. Former IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus told i24News that "Hamas has established [in that area] a mesh of tunnels... to import weapons, explosives and everything else that they wanted."

"It was clear that if we did not have this corridor, there would be arming here, that a monster would be created," Netanyahu said. "The axis of evil needs the Philadelphi Corridor. It is for this reason that Hamas is insisting that we not be there and it is for this reason that I insist that we will be there."