The source said the Netanyahu government is thwarting the efforts of mediators to covering up for its political and military failures in the Gaza war.

On Thursday, a high-level Egyptian source said that Netanyahu’s statements on Wednesday lacked realism and attempted to shift the blame for his failure in Gaza towards other countries.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu repeated his claims on why Israel cannot withdraw its troops from the 14-km-long Philadelphi corridor along the borders between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

In a press conference, he made wild claims on the centrality of the Philadelphi corridor to the arming of Hamas, which he argued led to the 7 October operation.

The Israeli PM showed images of tunnels allegedly built under the Philadelphi corridor, which he claimed were used to smuggle arms from Sinai to Gaza.

On Tuesday, Egypt rejected similar statements made by Netanyahu on Monday, in which he sought to use Egypt’s name to deflect Israeli public attention and hinder ongoing ceasefire and captive-prisoner swap negotiations.

Such remarks by Netanyahu are an attempt to hinder the mediation efforts being carried out by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Egypt further held the Israeli government responsible for the consequences of such statements, which it said exacerbated tensions and sought to justify Israeli aggressive and inflammatory policies that have contributed to further escalation in the region.

This comes as Egypt has reiterated more than once its rejection of any Israeli presence in the Philadelphi corridor on the Egypt-Gaza borders and the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing as a constant of any ceasefire agreement.

Moreover, Cairo has repeatedly refuted Israeli allegations that Egypt is a "source of weapons smuggled into Gaza" through "tunnels" along the Egypt-Gaza border.

In August, a high-level Egyptian source refuted claims circulated by Israeli media that the Israeli army discovered "operational tunnels" between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this year, Head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) Diaa Rashwan comprehensively rebuffed "baseless and false" Israeli claims on the same matter.