Israel withdraws from key Gaza corridor ahead of hostage deal talks

The Israeli army withdrew its last forces from a corridor separating north and south Gaza, causing Hamas to mock Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to achieve “total victory.”

The withdrawal from the eastern part of the Netzarim corridor, in line with the ceasefire agreement, saw Palestinians returning to the area on Sunday morning.

“Israeli forces have dismantled their positions and military posts and completely withdrawn their tanks from the Netzarim corridor, on Salah-a-din Road, allowing vehicles to pass freely in both directions,” a Hamas official said.

Hamas hailed the withdrawal, saying it “completes the failure of the war of extermination against our people” and that it “debunks Netanyahu’s lie about achieving a total victory.”

It came a day after Hamas made another public show of strength as it released more hostages while parading military equipment.

Mr. Netanyahu sent an Israeli delegation to Doha on Saturday evening to discuss technical details of the ceasefire agreement.

A source familiar with the issue told The Telegraph that the delegation includes representatives from Mossad, Shin Bet, and the Israel Defense Forces, and that the prime minister will convene the security cabinet when he returns to Israel from Washington to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire.

As Hamas and Israel gear up for another round of indirect discussions, Egypt announced it will host an emergency summit on Feb. 27 for Arab states to discuss a unified position on Donald Trump’s intention to take over Gaza and displace some two million Palestinians.

Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, Egypt’s president, and Abdullah II, the king of Jordan, will jointly lead the meeting as Mr. Trump has suggested that both countries take in Palestinians from Gaza.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said that the meeting was called after “extensive consultations by Egypt at the highest levels with Arab countries in recent days, including Palestine, which requested the summit, to address the latest serious developments regarding the Palestinian cause.”

Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and a number of other countries in the Middle East have pushed back on Mr. Trump’s plan to transform Gaza into a U.S.-built “riviera.”

But Israel has welcomed the idea, with Mr. Netanyahu giving it his full support. In an interview with Fox News aired on Saturday, Mr. Netanyahu said that Mr. Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians in other countries is not “forcible eviction” or “ethnic cleansing.”

The prime minister also pushed back on Saudi Arabia’s demand for a Palestinian state, saying: “Nobody is going to do that. Nobody is going to say, ‘Oh, give them a Palestinian state.’ They just had one. It’s called Gaza under Hamas.”

Saudi Arabia and the UAE both lashed out at Mr. Netanyahu for suggesting in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14 that the Saudis could create a Palestinian state “where they have a lot of room, a whole lot of room.”

The Saudi kingdom issued a statement saying it categorically rejected such statements that “aim to divert attention from the continuous crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are subjected to.”

“The kingdom affirms that the Palestinian people have a right to their land, and they are not intruders or immigrants to it who can be expelled whenever the brutal Israeli occupation wishes,” the statement added.

The Emirati foreign ministry also issued a statement, calling Mr. Netanyahu’s comments “reprehensible and provocative” and rejecting “any infringement on the Palestinians’ unalienable rights, and any attempts at displacement.”

Israel’s arch-enemy, Iran, has also harshly criticized Mr. Trump’s plan, arguing that it poses a “serious threat to the stability and security” of the Middle East.

“Forcibly displacing Palestinians from Gaza is part of a scheme to eliminate Palestine in a colonial manner,” Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, told his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, on Sunday.

Mr. Araghchi stressed that it is essential that Islamic countries “take a firm and unified stance against this project.”

Credit: The Telegraph