Israel will not withdraw its forces from the Gaza-Egypt border. Diplomatic sources for the American giant CNN emphasize that even after the expiration of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, the latter's army will remain there.
The Israeli military was supposed to begin withdrawing from that region in early March if the current ceasefire, which expires on Saturday, was extended.
CNN sources cite a message sent to Israeli media on Thursday that said: "We will not leave the Philadelphia Corridor," a 14-kilometer (8-mile) strip along the Gaza-Egypt border.
"We will not allow Hamas killers to roam our borders with trucks and rifles again, and we will not allow them to strengthen themselves again through smuggling."
The Israeli military took control of the corridor in May and would withdraw from it during a possible second phase of the ceasefire agreement. It is not clear whether negotiations for a second phase have begun.
Meanwhile, the militant group Hamas said on Thursday it was ready to begin talks on the second phase of a ceasefire in Gaza after several hundred Palestinians were released from Israeli prisons overnight in exchange for the bodies of four Israeli hostages.
Israel said three of the hostages whose bodies it had taken overnight had been killed in captivity and the fourth had been killed on the day of the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that precipitated the war.
There was no immediate response from Hamas to the claim that the hostages had been killed in captivity. The group has previously denied killing the hostages and said some had died as a result of Israeli bombing. (A2 Televizion)
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