(Bloomberg) -- Israel plans to wrest control over food distribution in the Gaza Strip from Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, in what he described as an effort to block what he said is the militant group’s practice of commandeering humanitarian aid.
“They steal the food, charge exorbitant prices for it from the Gaza population and that’s how they hope to continue to survive,” Netanyahu told reporters in Jerusalem. “We have to take that away from them. I don’t want to run Gaza. I don’t want to administer Gaza. But I want to take this away from them.”
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Netanyahu envisioned Israeli forces distributing food and essential items to Palestinians or international aid groups continuing to do so but under Israeli supervision. Israel’s resistance to allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza in the early days of the war drew worldwide condemnation and pressure from the US. Any direct involvement by the Israeli army in distributing aid to Palestinians would risk angering Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, who opposed letting humanitarian supplies into Gaza.
The Israeli leader also doubled down on his refusal to retreat from a strategic corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border as part of a cease-fire and hostage deal with Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US. He said Israeli soldiers will remain along the Philadelphi corridor during the first phase of any agreement, which would last 42 days. After that, he said Israel would be open to discussing a different arrangement if another international force could seal the border, though he expressed skepticism that such a deal could be reached.
The Philadelphi corridor hasn’t been the only matter of disagreement in the cease-fire negotiations, a senior Biden administration official told reporters on Wednesday. Another source of friction was how many Palestinian prisoners would be released for each Israeli hostage, a matter that now has been affected by the recent execution of six hostages, the official said.
--With assistance from Iain Marlow.
(Updates with US official on cease-fire talks in final paragraph)
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