World

How a narrow strip of scrubland has become an obstacle to a cease-fire in Gaza

Published

2 years ago

September 3, 2024

How a narrow strip of scrubland has become an obstacle to a cease-fire in Gaza

A narrow strip of scrubland and sand dunes on the Gaza side of the border with Egypt has emerged as a major obstacle in talks aimed at halting the Israel-Hamas war and freeing scores of hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel must maintain control over the so-called Philadelphi corridor to prevent Hamas from replenishing its arsenal through a network of smuggling tunnels in the area. He says that’s necessary to ensure the group can never again launch an attack into Israel like the one on Oct. 7 that ignited the war.

But many Israelis, including the defense minister, say Israel should relinquish the corridor, at least for a short period of time, in order to secure an agreement to bring back around 100 hostages still held in Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

The debate reached a fever pitch this weekend after Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages that the military says Hamas killed as troops closed in. Critics say they could have been returned alive in a cease-fire deal and accuse Netanyahu of sabotaging the talks for his own political interests.

Hamas has demanded a full withdrawal from Gaza and says Netanyahu only raised the demand for the Philadelphi corridor in recent weeks to derail the talks.

Netanyahu blames Hamas for the lack of a deal and says the demand is not new.

Egypt, which has served as a key mediator, is also opposed to any Israeli presence along the Gaza side of its border and says it would threaten the decades-old peace treaty between the two countries, a cornerstone of regional stability.

What is the Philadelphi corridor and why does Israel want it?

The Philadelphi corridor is a strip — only 100 meters (yards) wide in some places— that runs the 14-kilometer (8.6-mile) length of the Gaza side of the border with Egypt. It includes the Rafah crossing, which was Gaza’s only outlet to the outside world not controlled by Israel until the army captured the entire corridor in May.

Israel says Hamas used a vast network of tunnels beneath the border to import arms, allowing it to build up the military machine it deployed on Oct. 7. The military says it has found and destroyed dozens of tunnels since seizing the corridor.

At a news conference on Monday, Netanyahu pointed to a map of the region depicting weapons flowing into Gaza from across the border, saying the corridor provided “oxygen” for Hamas.

Egypt released a statement Tuesday rejecting Netanyahu’s allegations, saying they misled the Israeli public and obstructed cease-fire efforts. Egypt says it destroyed hundreds of tunnels on its side of the border years ago and set up a military buffer zone of its own that prevents smuggling.

What do Netanyahu’s critics say about the corridor?

For weeks, Israeli media have quoted unnamed security officials lambasting Netanyahu, saying the corridor is not essential to Israel’s security and should not hold up a deal to return hostages. Some have suggested an international force could patrol the border, perhaps with remote Israeli sensors.

The dispute sparked a shouting match at a security Cabinet meeting last week, in which Defense Minister Yoav Gallant accused Netanyahu of favoring border arrangements over the lives of the hostages, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting. Gallant was the lone dissenting voice in a subsequent vote in favor of maintaining control over the Philadelphi corridor and has since called on the government to reverse it.

Families of hostages have led months of mass protests calling on Netanyahu to make a deal with Hamas to return their loved ones. The biggest demonstrations yet erupted over the weekend after the killing of the six hostages, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the best-known captives.

Netanyahu’s supporters say that conceding the Philadelphi corridor now would reward Hamas for killing the captives. They maintain that only relentless military pressure can defeat Hamas, return the hostages and bring about a deal that ensures Israel’s long-term security.

What do Palestinians say about the corridor?

Any Israeli presence inside Gaza would be widely seen as a military occupation, likely prolonging the conflict.

It could also extend, perhaps indefinitely, the closure of the Rafah crossing, which has been a lifeline for Gaza since Egypt and Israel began imposing various degrees of a blockade on the territory after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

For 16 years, it was the only way for most Palestinians to exit or enter Gaza. During the first seven months of the war, it was also the only route available for medical evacuations and the main entry point for desperately needed humanitarian aid.

Israel captured Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for their own state. It withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but continued to control the territory’s airspace, coastline, and all of its border crossings except Rafah.

Hamas has adamantly rejected any Israeli presence in Gaza, including in the Philadelphi corridor and the Netzarim corridor, a buffer zone carved out by Israel separating northern from southern Gaza. Israel says it needs that corridor to search Palestinians returning to their homes in the north to keep militants from slipping in.

Israel denies its demands regarding the two corridors are new, referring to them as “clarifications” of an earlier proposal endorsed by President Joe Biden in a May 31 speech and by the U.N. Security Council.

Israel also accuses Hamas of making unacceptable demands since then, and says the militant group is hindering a deal, including by killing hostages who would be part of it.

What is the position of the mediators?

Biden’s speech and the Security Council resolution referred to a complete Israeli withdrawal. Egyptian officials and Hamas say the demands regarding the corridors were not included in subsequent versions of the U.S.-backed proposal, including one that Hamas said it accepted in early July.

Egypt is deeply opposed to any Israeli military presence along the Gaza border and has refused to reopen its side of the Rafah crossing unless the Gaza side is returned to Palestinian control.

It has accused Israel of violating annexes to the landmark 1979 peace treaty pertaining to Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza that regulate the deployment of forces along the border. Israeli officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United States, which is providing crucial military support to Israel while also serving as a mediator, has not taken a position on the corridors, at least publicly, while Hamas has accused it of trying to impose Israel’s demands on the militant group.

Biden said Monday that Netanyahu was not doing enough to bring about a cease-fire, without elaborating.

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Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, Samy Magdy in Cairo, and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed.

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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

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World

Schools, shops shut in northern Israel to protest the Lebanon ceasefire

Published

53 minutes ago

April 19, 2026

Press Room

Schools, shops shut in northern Israel to protest the Lebanon ceasefire

Shops and schools shut in northern Israel as residents protested a 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon that took effect on April 16, saying “nothing was achieved”. Israeli officials say operations may continue, with forces still deployed inside southern Lebanon.

Published On 19 Apr 2026

World

Pope Leo says remarks about world being ‘ravaged by a handful of tyrants’ were not aimed at Trump: report

Published

12 hours ago

April 19, 2026

Press Room

Pope Leo says remarks about world being ‘ravaged by a handful of tyrants’ were not aimed at Trump: report

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Pope Leo XIV said Saturday that remarks he made this week in which he said the “world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” were not directed at President Donald Trump, a report said.

The pope, speaking onboard a flight to Angola during his 10-day tour of Africa, said reporting about his comments “has not been ‌accurate in all its aspects” and his speech “was ⁠prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting,” according to Reuters.

The news outlet cited the pope as saying his comments were not aimed at Trump.

“As it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate the president, which is not in my interest at all,” the pope reportedly said.

’60 MINUTES’ ACCUSED OF USING LEFT-LEANING CARDINALS TO BAIT TRUMP INTO FEUD WITH VATICAN

Pope Leo XIV answers journalists’ questions during his flight from Yaoundé, Cameroon, to Luanda, Angola, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (Luca Zennaro/Pool Photo via AP)

Vice President JD Vance later took to X to thank the pope for clearing the record.

“While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict — and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen — the reality is often much more complicated,” Vance wrote. “Pope Leo preaches the gospel, as he should, and that will inevitably mean he offers his opinions on the moral issues of the day.

“The President — and the entire administration — work to apply those moral principles in a messy world,” he continued. “He will be in our prayers, and I hope that we’ll be in his.”

The vice president’s comments came days after he told Fox News’ Bret Baier on “Special Report” that it would be best for the Vatican to “stick to matters of morality.”

“Let the President of the United States stick to dictating American public policy,” Vance said Tuesday.

Trump last Sunday accused Pope Leo XIV of being “terrible” on foreign policy after the pontiff criticized the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

“He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”

POPE LEO SLAMS THOSE WHO ‘MANIPULATE RELIGION’ FOR MILITARY OR POLITICAL GAIN, TRUMP RESPONDS

Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump (Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images; Salwan Georges/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

During a speech in Cameroon on Thursday, the pope said, “We must make a decisive change of course — a true conversion — that will lead us in the opposite direction, onto a sustainable path rich in human fraternity.

“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters.

Pope Leo XIV speaks as he meets with the community of Bamenda at Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in Bamenda on the fourth day of an 11-day apostolic journey to Africa April 16, 2026. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)

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“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

World

Bulgaria votes in eighth election in five years

Published

13 hours ago

April 19, 2026

Press Room

Bulgaria votes in eighth election in five years

Bulgarians headed to the polls Sunday for the eighth time in five years, with anti-corruption candidate and former president Rumen Radev’s bloc tipped to win.

The European Union’s poorest member has been through a spate of governments since 2021, when large anti-graft rallies brought an end to the conservative government of long-time leader Boyko Borissov.

Eurostat data shows Bulgaria consistently ranks last in the EU by GDP per capita. In 2025, Bulgaria (along with Greece) was at 68% of the EU average.

Radev, who has advocated for renewing ties with Russia and opposes military aid to Ukraine, was president for nine years in the Balkan nation of 6.5 million people.

He stepped down in January to lead newly formed centre-left grouping Progressive Bulgaria, with opinion polls before Sunday’s vote suggesting the bloc could gain 35% of the vote.

The former air force general has said he wants to rid the country of its “oligarchic governance model”, and backed anti-corruption protests in late 2025 that brought down the latest conservative-backed government.

“I’m voting for change,” Decho Kostadinov, 57, told reporters after casting his ballot at a polling station in the capital, Sofia, adding corrupt politicians “should leave — they should take whatever they’ve stolen and get out of Bulgaria”.

Polls are forecasting a surge in voter participation, with more than 3.3 million Bulgarians expected to cast ballots according to the Bulgarian News Agency.

Voting will close at 1700 GMT, with exit polls expected immediately afterwards. Preliminary results are expected on Monday.

‘Preserve what we have’

Borissov’s pro-European GERB party is likely to come second, according to opinion polls, with around 20%, ahead of the liberal PP-DB.

“I’m voting to preserve what we have. We are a democratic country, we live well,” said Elena, an accountant of about 60, who did not give her full name, after casting her vote in Sofia.

Front-runner Radev has slammed the EU’s green energy policy, which he considers naive “in a world without rules”.

He also opposes any Bulgarian efforts to send arms to help Ukraine fight back Russia’s 2022 invasion, though he has said he would not use his country’s veto to block Brussels’ decisions.

Pushing for renewed ties with Russia, Radev denounced a 10-year defence agreement between Bulgaria and Ukraine signed last month – drawing fresh accusations from opponents of being too soft on Moscow.

The ex-president also stoked outrage online for screening images at his final campaign rally of his meetings with world leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“We need to close ranks,” he told around 10,000 cheering supporters at the rally, presenting his party as a non-corrupt “alternative to the perverse cartel of old-style parties”.

Borissov, who headed the country virtually uninterrupted for close to a decade, has dismissed suggestions that Radev brings something “new”.

At a rally of his party earlier this week, he insisted GERB had “fulfilled the dreams of the 1990s” with such achievements as the country joining the eurozone this year.