Gaza ceasefire in doubt as Israel declares: 'No withdrawal from Philadelphi Corridor'

Israel declared it won't withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border, putting the continuation of the ceasefire with Hamas in serious doubt as the terror group insists on a full withdrawal as a condition to release all the hostages.

“We will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor. We will not allow Hamas murderers to roam around with pickup trucks and guns on our borders again, and we will not allow them to gain strength from smuggling again," an Israeli official briefed media outlets.

Speaking at a regional council conference Thursday morning, Defense Minister Katz said the Philadelphi Corridor “will remain a buffer zone just like in Lebanon and Syria. I saw with my own eyes quite a few tunnels penetrating Philadelphi, some of them were closed – and some were open.” 

Israel was supposed to begin withdrawing from the corridor on Saturday, completing the withdrawal by March 9. Now it appears that Israel is backing out of that commitment as it attempts to maintain a strategically important position in the event of the resumption of hostilities. 

Later on Thursday, another official stated that Israel had sent a delegation to Cairo to negotiate a possible extension of the ceasefire's current, first phase.

Israel intends to achieve the release of three more live hostages this Saturday, in exchange for more humanitarian aid and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

The first phase of the hostage-ceasefire agreement officially came to an end with Wednesday's return of the bodies of the final four hostages from the list given by Hamas to Israel. 

According to the terms of the original ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, negotiations for the second phase of the deal should have begun on Feb. 16.

However, Israel delayed sending a negotiation team, citing recurring ceasefire violations by Hamas, as well as its humiliating release cermeonies.

Katz said Thursday that the government had information that Hamas planned to attack Israeli soldiers and communities during the ceasefire. 

At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from members of his coalition not to proceed with the deal’s second phase. 

Negotiations for the second were supposed to include discussions over a permanent ceasefire and would have also required Israel to fully remove all troops from the Gaza Strip. 

Instead, Netanyahu has begun to speak about extending the first stage of the ceasefire to include more hostages, such as Israeli fathers Omri Miran, David Cunio, and Elkana Bohbot. 

Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, also discussed the possibility of extending the first phase, after several meetings with Netanyahu adviser and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. 

Witkoff was expected to visit the Middle East as part of a push to begin second-phase negotiations. However, he recently announced a delay in his trip, even conditioning it on progress in negotiations between Israel and Hamas. 

On Tuesday, Witkoff said that Israel is expected to send a delegation to either Doha or Cairo in the coming days to begin phase two negotiations. 

"If these talks go well, I might be going to the region on Sunday,” Witkoff said during remarks at an American Jewish Committee event in Washington, D.C. 

Meanwhile, Hamas also expressed a willingness to either extend the first phase of the ceasefire or move immediately into the second phase, 

Hamas spokesman Abd al-Latif al-Qanu told Saudi newspaper Al-Arabiya that the terror organization is willing to extend the first phase of the ceasefire or to consolidate the two stages of the agreement according to the organization's "red lines" regarding the agreement. 

Israeli analysts believe that Hamas’ demands for freeing additional hostages as part of an extension of the first phase will likely be much higher. 

The Israeli government is reportedly seeking to extend the deal without making strategic concessions which could damage its ability to prevent Hamas from rebuilding or resume fighting in the event of a collapse of the ceasefire agreement.