CAIRO — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted for weeks that his forces will not withdraw from the Gaza-Egypt border, a key demand of both Hamas and Egypt in talks to reach a cease-fire deal. But privately, his negotiating team offered to pull troops out as part of a phased agreement, according to three current and former officials from countries involved in the talks — confusing mediators at a critical time in the diplomatic efforts to end the war.
At a news conference late Monday, Netanyahu described Israel’s presence there — along a narrow strip of land known as the Philadelphi Corridor — as a “strategic imperative.” He repeated similar talking points at a news conference for foreign media on Wednesday, arguing that retaining control of the border region, which Hamas long used for smuggling weapons and materiel, is necessary to maintain military pressure on the group.
On Monday, though, a senior Israeli negotiator had already told U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators that Israel was willing to pull all of its troops out of the corridor during the second phase of a proposed three-stage agreement, according to the current and former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. During the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from about half of the corridor, said a former Egyptian official briefed on the talks.
David Barnea, Israel’s spy chief, delivered the message Monday, according to an Israeli official and an official from a mediating country briefed on the talks. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper first reported the offer on Tuesday.
An official familiar with the negotiations said Netanyahu was sending different signals to negotiators and the Israeli public. “It’s been the case for a while,” the official said. “Hence, Barnea’s frustration.”
But the stark discrepancy between Netanyahu’s speech Monday — which he doubled down on Wednesday — and the position Barnea presented privately that day appeared to go beyond the tailored messaging of a skilled politician who has dominated Israeli politics for decades.
Netanyahu often says one thing publicly and does something else — such as pledging to do everything in his power to bring the hostages home while many Israelis and foreign mediators assess he is impeding a deal, said Dahlia Scheindlin, a Tel Aviv-based pollster and campaign consultant. Throughout his career, Netanyahu has used this tactic to stall efforts to reach a comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she added.
But “this is the most extreme example of diametrically opposed information about Netanyahu’s decision-making,” she said. “It’s different from the usual.”
Netanyahu’s news conference Monday was probably intended to assure the Israeli public — and his right-wing base, in particular — that the government was not making concessions as a result of the killing of six hostages, said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute.
Netanyahu is “a master politician,” he said, “and I would expect a political leader to maneuver.” But the gap between the positions outlined to the public and to the cease-fire mediators Monday night, Plesner said, “even by Netanyahu’s standards, it’s rather extraordinary.”
Barnea wouldn’t act without Netanyahu’s approval, analysts said.
“The situation in Israel is so confused,” said the former Egyptian official, adding that the conflicting messages are frustrating Egypt and other mediators.
An Israeli official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations, also said: “It’s not the first time that the internal message and external message are two different things.”
“There are some officials that do not believe that a deal will go beyond the first phase, if it happens,” the official said.
For months, U.S. and other mediators have worked on the broad contours of a deal, one that would include three phases and an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. It would also allow the unfettered flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, as well as require an Israeli withdrawal from major population centers.
Under a framework agreement introduced in May, the first phase would start with an initial six-week cease-fire and the departure of Israeli forces from densely populated areas — but it could continue beyond that as long as neither side violated its terms.
During that time, the parties would negotiate the terms of the second phase, including the final release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops and a permanent cease-fire. If Israel resumed fighting after the first phase — which Hamas believes Israel intends to do — that would end the agreement before the second phase could be implemented.
“They want to exploit the first phase,” the former Egyptian official said of Israel. “They can get their hostages, and then in the second phase they will say, ‘No, we will not continue.’ This is what we are expecting.”
A senior Biden administration official said Wednesday that Israel has insisted on keeping some troops during the first phase in portions of the Philadelphi Corridor that it says do not meet the definition of “densely populated,” and that the issue was currently a subject of negotiations.
The second phase of the agreement, as written, calls for a complete Israeli withdrawal, said the official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the White House.
Hamas said Wednesday that Netanyahu’s insistence on controlling the Philadelphi Corridor was a negotiating tactic to thwart a final agreement. “What is required now is to pressure Netanyahu and his government,” the group said in a statement.
U.S. officials acknowledge that there is skepticism about whether Israelis are interested in moving toward a more permanent cease-fire and a second phase. They also said that if Netanyahu were to bend on the border issue, it’s still unclear whether Hamas would agree to a deal. But they say that six weeks of calm are likely to create conditions on both sides that make it more difficult to restart hostilities, and that the window will further create pressure to make compromises.
Asked whether Netanyahu’s “maximalist position” was preventing talks from getting “off the ground,” the senior administration official said, “I’ve never been involved in a negotiation where basically every day there’s a public statement about the details of the negotiation, which just makes it difficult, especially in a hostage negotiation.”
“In my view, the less that’s said about the particular issues the better, as we work through it,” the official said. “Staking out concrete positions in the middle of a negotiation isn’t always particularly helpful.”
Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.
The uncertainty over the deal’s fate comes as the prime minister is under considerable political pressure, both from a furious public that wants a deal and his far-right allies who say any agreement would be capitulation to Hamas.
“As long as this government exists, the war will continue. Ending the war is in Israel’s interest,” Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist opposition party Yesh Atid, wrote Wednesday on X.
But if Netanyahu’s own coalition partners topple the government, it could end his political career and put him in potential legal peril as he faces multiple corruption trials.
“It’s extremely effective,” Ephraim Sneh, a former deputy defense minister, said of the far right’s lobbying. “They say to Netanyahu: If you strike a deal about the hostages, we’ll collapse your government. That’s what he’s afraid of.”
The domestic debate over the Philadelphi Corridor intensified recently, as Netanyahu homed in on the issue to explain why he couldn’t agree to the proposed deal on the table.
“The majority of the public wouldn’t have been able to point out until very recently where the Philadelphi axis actually is,” Plesner said. Now, “those who believe that Mr. Netanyahu’s intentions are benevolent or that he is managing the negotiations in good faith tend to also believe Mr. Netanyahu that Philadelphi is essential from a security standpoint.”
On Sunday, the Israeli military announced that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages in southern Gaza — four of whom were on the list to be released in the first phase of the proposed deal.
Israeli authorities said they were executed by their captors last week as troops operated in the area. The family members of hostages say Netanyahu’s fixation on the nine-mile-long corridor is costing the lives of their loved ones.
“We are very pessimistic,” said Daniel Lifshitz, 36, whose grandparents were kidnapped by Palestinian militants on Oct. 7. “The situation is horrible inside Gaza.”
His grandmother, Yocheved Lifshitz, 86, was released in late October. But his grandfather, Oded, 84, remains in Hamas captivity in Gaza.
Hostages who were released as part of a temporary cease-fire in November said they had spotted Oded alive — but there has been no sign of life since then, Daniel said.
“Just solve the issue of Philadelphi Corridor, if it’s in phase one or phase two,” he said. “I don’t want the negotiations to be affected by the media or by any speech of one prime minister.”
Morris reported from Berlin and Hudson from Washington. Karen DeYoung and Michael Birnbaum in Washington and Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
