Why Does Netanyahu Find Holding Philadelphi Corridor Vital?

While Hamas insists on full retreat from this region, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes for maintaining control of this key border region that hosts a crossing. On Wednesday, in a speech, he claimed that if he has to choose between prisoner swap deal and Philadelphi Corridor control, he will pick the second one. 

But why is holding this region crucial to Netanyahu and why does not he make such a concession to Hamas, even as a temporary step?

Where is exactly Philadelphi Corridor? 

Philadelphi Corridor, called Salahuddin Corridor by the Palestinians, is a thin land strip along the Gaza and Sinai Desert of Egypt, namely from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Karam Shalom border crossing in the south, with a 14-km length and 100-m width. The Rafah Border Crossing is built on this route. 

Building this route was an important part of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt that was in 1979 and ended several decades of war between the two sides. This agreement allowed Israel to return the Sinai Peninsula, which it had taken from Egypt in the 1967 war in exchange for Cairo accepting a ceasefire, and eventually paved the way for Egypt's recognition of Israel under President Anwar Sadat of Egypt.

With the intensification of the siege of the Gaza Strip by the Israelis after 2007, the residents of Gaza dug several tunnels under Philadelphi Corridor in order to ease the economic pressure and meet their daily needs.

During the past years, the Israeli army has always tried to destroy the tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt, claiming that Hamas smuggles weapons and explosives into Gaza through these tunnels.

Following the Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, Israel completely surrounded the Gaza Strip from all sides, and the Philadelphia Corridor became one of the most important strategic aims of the war for Tel Aviv, and from the very beginning of the war, extensive air attacks were launched at Fatah crossing, to the extent that for sometime it was impossible to deliver humanitarian aid through it. 

The failure to achieve the initial objectives of the war after 10 months since the beginning of the invasion and occupation of Gaza made desperate Netanyahu’s cabinet more resolved to advance the strategy of encirclement and collective punishment of Gaza to put pressure on the resistance groups and force them to accept the Israeli imposed conditions of truce. 

But there is a more complicated aim behind the Netanyahu government's insistence on maintaining the corridor, which has to do with cutting off the historical foundations of the agreement with Egypt and, through that, changing Arab and international political, legal, and geopolitical rules regarding the Palestinian cause. The deep meaning of this issue in Israel's strategy, led by Netanyahu and his partners, is that Tel Aviv wants to review the terms of the so-called peace with Egypt, dismantle the Palestinian Authority, and reject European support for the two-state solution.

Regarding Egypt, the continuation of the occupation of the Philadelphi Corridor will be a clear violation of the peace agreement and a serious damage to Egypt's role and influence in the issue of Gaza and Palestine.

The agreement limited the number of troops Egypt and Israel could have near each other's border, making the corridor an important buffer zone between the two former enemies.

According to the agreement, Israel is allowed to station limited forces comprised of 4 ground brigades in the region around the corridor. On the other side, Egypt can only deploy about 750 border guards with light weapons and 4 ships in the maritime border area and 8 unarmed helicopters to carry out the mission of fighting terrorism, cross-border infiltration, smuggling and discovering tunnels.

However, amendments to security agreements in recent years have allowed Cairo to strengthen its security presence in the Sinai Peninsula to counter terrorist groups. Therefore, by taking control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the Israelis will strengthen their military position on the borders of the Sinai Desert and reduce the influence of the Egyptians in Gaza and Palestinian case in general. 

Some accounts suggest that General Henri Gouraud, who was the top representative of France in the Syria and Lebanon during colonization and was overseeing separation of the two in 1920 in his visit of Salahuddin Ayoubi's tomb, the Muslim champion of battle against Christians in the Crusades, in a comparison between occupation of Levant in the early 20th century by Western powers and the Crusades that ended in defeat of Europe in 1096, said: "Wake up, we're back O'Saladin." 

Although it is said that the choice of "Philadelphi" by the Israeli military for Salahuddin Corridor was accidental, the fact is that the function of the names is as symbolically important as the occupation of Palestinian lands. 

Now, with occupation of this region and insistence by Tel Aviv on holding its control it in the future, Tel Aviv will symbolically dismiss the Palestinian international legal case against occupation, the European support to the two-state solution, and agreement with Egypt and paint them as expired matters. 

Finally, it can be suggested that Netanyahu is actually trying to shatter the negotiation process by putting forward the unattainable condition of controlling the Philadelphia Corridor and the Rafah border crossing, in order to prevent his cabinet from collapsing.

It is noteworthy that in recent days, after American, Egyptian, and Qatar mediators pushed for a ceasefire in Doha, the hardliners of Netanyahu’s cabinet, mainly National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Fiance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, threatened that if the PM thinks ending the war and accepts a ceasefire, they will withdraw from the coalition cabinet, paving the way for its collapse— something that in addition to ending Netanyahu’s political life will lead to his trial and possible imprisonment. 

Overstating the achievements of Philadelphi control 

Though Netanyahu insists to paint Philadelphi Corridor control and Rafah crossing as a key war feat and a bargaining chip against Hamas and blocking arms smuggling to Gaza, the army commanders do not think the same thing. 

In an article in Maariv newspaper, Isaac Brik, the Israeli retired Major General, recently said that while Netanyahu, Chief of Staff of the Army Halevi, and Minister of Defense Gallant talk about the necessity of staying in Philadelphi, the military says it is useless to stay there because weapons and ammunition flow to Gaza from Sinai has not stopped. 

Even Brik says that a few days before the start of the army's massive attacks on the Gaza Strip, in a conversation with Netanyahu, he asked him about the possibility of blocking the tunnels to block transfer of weapons, ammunition and other supplies to Hamas, but Netanyahu's answer was that "such an action is impossible for many reasons."

Brik further recalled words of Halevi who recently said: "If we are asked to stay in Philadelphi, we will stay, and if we are asked to leave it, we will." 

Brik further says that if Halevi was certain about significance of control over Philadelphi, he would have said it obviously not equivocally. 

"Halavi has realized that controlling the Philadelphi Corridor is of no use in the current state of the war, neither in weakening Hamas nor in freeing all the prisoners," says Brik. 

Brik also pointed to Netzarim Corridor, which splits the strip into a northern zone and a southern zone, adding that presence of forces in Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors is senseless and does not altogether settle the problem.