Continuous IDF presence in Gaza ‘unacceptable’: White House

Israel is reportedly planning to withdraw some troops from a key Gazan corridor after Steve Witkoff told Benjamin Netanyahu’s adviser current IDF plans would harm ceasefire hopes.

Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth. Picture: Getty Images via AFP.

Israel is reportedly planning to withdraw some troops from a key Gazan corridor as Hamas confirms it has agreed to release 10 hostages as part of ongoing ceasefire talks.

As Benjamin Netanyahu remained in Washington for a third day, the White House administration reportedly told Israel a continuous Israeli presence in large parts of the Gaza Strip wasn’t acceptable.

Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told Ron Dermer, the Israeli Prime Minister’s senior adviser, that an Israeli Defence Forces map showing current military deployment in a southern Gazan corridor would damage ceasefire hopes.

Israel’s insistence on maintaining troops in the Morag corridor, which runs east to west across Gaza separating Rafah from the rest of the Strip, has been a key sticking point in ceasefire talks.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday said Jerusalem planned to establish a new humanitarian zone in Rafah where eventually all Palestinians would be relocated.

Israel’s Channel 12 TV reports that during a White House meeting, Mr Dermer told Mr Witkoff and negotiators from Qatar that Mr Netanyahu was under pressure from within the right wing of his coalition not to make significant concessions – particularly pertaining to Israel’s territorial ambitions in the Strip.

However the Israeli delegation went on to present a map showing a wider IDF withdrawal from the Morag corridor in a major backdown which sources told the broadcaster had significantly improved the chance of a ceasefire.

“There are still gaps, but right now we are on a positive track,” the source said.

Separately, the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that disagreements over the Morag corridor could kill off a ceasefire.

Egyptian sources told the newspaper talks in Doha were “at a standstill,” and may have reached a dead end.

The concession came as Hamas released a statement saying it was working to overcome hurdles despite the “difficulty of negotiations”.

“In the framework of (Hamas’s) commitment to ensuring the success of ongoing efforts, the movement displayed the required flexibility and agreed to release 10 prisoners (hostages),” the group said in a statement, adding that the “core points remain under negotiations”, notably the flow of aid, Israel’s withdrawal and guarantees for a permanent ceasefire.

Mr Trump told reporters there was a “very good chance that we’ll have a (Gaza hostage) settlement, an agreement, of some kind this week, and maybe next week if not”.

“I think we have a chance this week or next week – not definitely. There’s nothing definite about war and Gaza,” he said.

“We want to have a ceasefire, we want to have peace, we want to get the hostages back, and I think we’re close to doing it.”

A senior Israeli official told Reuters a deal could be reached in one or two weeks but “not in a day’s time.”

The official said if the two sides agreed to a proposed 60-day ceasefire, Israel would use that time to offer a permanent ceasefire that will require the militant group to disarm.

If Hamas refused, “we’ll proceed” with military operations, the official said.

Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir said in a televised address that military action had prepared the ground for a deal that would bring home the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

“We have achieved many significant results, we have caused great damage to the governance and military capabilities of Hamas,” he said.

“Thanks to the operational power that we have demonstrated, the conditions have been created to advance a deal to release the hostages.”

Mr Netanyahu said he and Mr Trump were agreed on how to secure the release of Israeli hostages and end Hamas’s rule in Gaza.

“Trump wants a deal, but not at any price,” Mr Netanyahu told reporters. “I want a deal, but not at any price. Israel has security requirements and other requirements, and we are working together to try to achieve it.”

Earlier, Mr Netanyahu said he believed an agreement was on the horizon.

“I think we’re getting closer to a deal,” he told Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria program. “There’s a good chance that we’ll have it.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also said he thought a temporary deal was “achievable” and could even herald talks for a more lasting peace, while President Isaac Herzog talked of “a historic opportunity” for change.

“We are in an era of tectonic shifts, where the global balance of power and the regional strategic landscape are being reshaped,” Mr Herzog said.

“We must not miss this moment,” he added.

Mr Netanyahu is insistent he wants to permanently neutralise the threat to Israel from Hamas, whose deadly October 7, 2023 attack on border communities near Gaza sparked the war.

But he is under increasing pressure domestically and politically to end the war, particularly as the death toll of soldiers killed by homemade bombs and ambushes in Gaza increases.

Hamas has vowed “Gaza will not surrender”, and a Palestinian official close to the ceasefire talks indicated that Israel was still holding back a deal by refusing to allow free entry of aid in Gaza.

The ceasefire deal includes a 60-day pause in fighting, the return of 10 living hostages held by Palestinian militants since October 2023, and nine dead hostages.

Of 251 hostages seized during the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas has rebuffed pressure to release all the hostages, demanding an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel wants to ensure militants in Gaza never again pose a threat to its security.

With AFP