Israel Pushes for Border Wall in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

Israel seeks to build a wall near the Philadelphia Corridor on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing Arab mediators involved in the talks.

The move aims to prevent Hamas from constructing tunnels, a key tactic used in previous conflicts, according to the report.

Israel also insists on gaining access to data from cameras and sensors monitoring the area, a demand opposed by Egypt, which wants a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the corridor and the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, as a senior Egyptian official told the newspaper.

Despite recent meetings between Israeli and Egyptian technical teams to discuss the corridor and Rafah, little progress has been made, according to the report.

Last Sunday, Israel’s government stated that the country keeps working towards a Gaza deal, aimed at releasing Israeli hostages and ensuring the Israeli forces’ presence in the corridor.

The Rafah Crossing has been closed by Israel since last December. Ceasefire talks between Israel, Qatar, Egypt, the US, and  were held in Doha last week. The Hamas leadership refused to attend the negotiations. The mediatiors said in a joint statement that they negotiated a ceasefire proposal to the both sides. The next round of talks is set to be carried out soon.