In an English-language press conference with foreign reporters, he reaffirmed “the centrality of the Philadelphi corridor” to "the arming of Hamas," which he argued "led to the October 7 massacre."

He showed reporters a map of Gaza with arrows pointing from Sinai into the strip under the title 'Weapons Smuggling Operations'.

He also showed them images of tunnels reportedly built by Hamas under the Philadelphi corridor which he said were used to smuggle arms from the Sinai into Gaza.

“This is a huge, huge problem,” Netanyahu said as he frantically paced back and forth - up and down - opposite the map using a ruler to describe imaginary arms-smuggling routes.

Netanyahu's presser on Wednesday came two days after a general strike and protests by tens of thousands of Israelis demanding the government sign a ceasefire deal which has been mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the US for months.

It also came hours after US President Joe Biden said Netanyahu was not doing enough to reach a ceasefire deal to return Israeli captives and that his administration would be presenting both sides in the conflict with a final proposal for a deal on Friday.

Spreads lies to cover failures
 

Immediately after Netanyahu finished his presser, a high-level Egyptian source said the Israeli Prime Minister was spreading lies to cover up his failure in Gaza, according to Al-Qahera News.

“The Israeli Prime Minister’s promotion of arms smuggling from Egypt is another lie to justify his government’s failure to control arms smuggling from Israel to the Gaza Strip,” said the source.

“Israel failed to eliminate the arms smuggling mafia from Kerem Shalom to the Gaza Strip,” the source added.

“The Israeli government has completely lost its credibility internally and externally and is continuing to promote its lies to cover up its failure.”

The source stressed: “Netanyahu, through his allegations of arms smuggling from Egypt, is paving the way for declaring his security and political failure and not finding the hostages or achieving any military victory in Gaza and the West Bank.”

“All parties are resentful of the Israeli Prime Minister’s continued failure to reach a truce agreement,” concluded the source.

Desperation
 

For weeks, Netanyahu made maintaining Israeli troops' control over the corridor Israel occupied in May a central demand in signing any truce deal with Hamas.

Earlier in the week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called on Netanyahu and the war cabinet to back down on maintaining troops in the Philadelphi corridor to reach a deal with Hamas.

As Netanyahu spoke to foreign reporters, a new poll found that 53 percent of Israelis want the army to pull out of the Philadelphi corridor to reach a deal with Hamas, according to Israeli Radio.

Tonight, Netanyahu argued holding the Gaza-Egypt border is necessary "not only to keep Hamas from terrorizing Israel," but also to keep them "from terrorizing the people of Gaza,” according to the Times of Israel.

“Gaza cannot have a future if Gaza remains porous and you can enable the rearmament of Gaza through the Philadelphi Corridor,” claimed Netanyahu.

Netanyahu made another wild argument: Hamas could smuggle hostages out of Gaza to Iran or Yemen if Israel doesn’t hold the Philadelphi Corridor.

He also said that – because of the pressure it puts on Hamas – “If you want to release the hostages, you’ve got to hold on to the Philadelphi corridor."

Netanyahu said that Gaza can only remain demilitarized if the Philadelphi corridor “remains under firm control and is not a supply line for armaments and terror equipment.”

However, Netanyahu said that Israel is “open to considering” withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor between Egypt and Gaza only if “someone else” will demonstrate an ability to prevent “what happened there before,” expressing doubt that this scenario could materialize.

“Bring me anyone … who will show us, not on paper ... but on the ground, day after day ... that they can actually prevent the recurrence of what happened there before, we're open to considering it,” the Prime Minister told foreign reports in an English-language press conference.

“But I don't see that happening,” the prime minister added immediately, “and until that happens, we're there.”

Egypt rejected Netanyahu's claims
 

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, a statement issued by Egypt’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry emphasized a “firm rejection of all allegations made by Israeli officials in this regard.”

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

On Monday, Netanyahu claimed that Hamas obtains weapons through the Egypt-Gaza border, criticizing the security situation along the border, as reported by Israeli media.

The Israeli PM alleged that the Philadelphi corridor is “Hamas’s pipeline for oxygen and rearmament."

Netanyahu also claimed that this is the precise reason Israel "must control it," saying: “We must make permanent the fact that we are there."

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

The latest declaration was by Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Monday when he reiterated Egypt’s unequivocal rejection of Israeli control over the Philadelphi Corridor, stating that such control is unacceptable.

Moreover, Egypt has repeatedly refuted Israeli allegations that Egypt is a source of weapons "smuggled into Gaza through tunnels" along the 14-kilometre Egypt-Gaza border.

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

"Israel is making references to closed tunnels in Gaza to spread misleading claims for political purposes," said the source.

"Israel is overlooking arms smuggling operations from Israel to the West Bank as a pretext for seizing land and carrying out further killings and extermination against Palestinians," the source explained.

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

Rashwan emphasized that Egypt maintains full sovereignty over its territories and has dedicated substantial efforts to ensuring stability in Sinai and securing the Egypt-Gaza border.

“Egypt itself suffered greatly from these tunnels during the fierce confrontation with terrorist groups in Sinai following the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in June 2013 until 2020,” he said.

“Egypt faced significant challenges posed by tunnels used for smuggling fighters and weapons during intense confrontations with terrorist groups in Sinai from June 2013 to 2020,” added Rashwan.

These confrontations resulted “in more than 3,000 Egyptian martyrs - army, police, and civilians - and over 13,000 wounded,” he noted.