Netanyahu says Israel will not leave Gaza border corridor until it is secure

By James Mackenzie and Emily Rose

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel will only agree to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza that guarantees the border area between southern Gaza and Egypt could never be used as a lifeline for the Islamist movement Hamas.

"Until that happens, we're there," he told a news conference in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu repeated his outright rejection of a withdrawal from the so-called Philadelphi corridor in the first phase of a deal, expected to last 42 days, saying international pressure would make it effectively impossible to return.

For a permanent ceasefire to be agreed upon after that, Israel would need guarantees that whoever ran postwar Gaza would be able to prevent the corridor from being used as a route for smuggling weapons and supplies for Hamas.

"Somebody has to be there," he said. "Bring me anyone who will actually show - not on paper, not in words, not on a slide - but day after day, week after week, month after month, that they can actually prevent a recurrence of what happened there before," he said, referring to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

"We're open to consider it, but I don't see that happening right now."

The Philadelphi corridor, along the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, has been one of the main obstacles to a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and bring Israeli hostages home in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Netanyahu has insisted on retaining control of the corridor, where Israeli troops have uncovered dozens of tunnels that officials say have been used to supply Hamas with weapons and ammunition.

The prime minister has faced heavy criticism from many in Israel for holding out on the issue, including from many in his own security establishment who believe Israeli troops can make targeted interventions if needed to prevent any smuggling.

The families of many hostages, including some of the six whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza on Sunday, have accused him of sacrificing their loved ones by insisting on keeping troops in the corridor.

But he said maintaining pressure on Hamas was the best way to return the 101 hostages still remaining in Gaza.

"You need to squeeze them, to put pressure on them to release the remaining hostages. So if you want to release the hostages, you've got to control the Philadelphi corridor," he said.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie and Emily Rose; Editing by Steven Scheer and Cynthia Osterman)