Netanyahu Rival Gantz Criticizes Stance on Philadelphi, Urges Hostage Deal

FILED - 19 October 2022, Israel, Tel Aviv: The then Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz speaks during a pre-election event at the Manufacturers Association of Israel. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 19 October 2022, Israel, Tel Aviv: The then Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz speaks during a pre-election event at the Manufacturers Association of Israel. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
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Netanyahu Rival Gantz Criticizes Stance on Philadelphi, Urges Hostage Deal

FILED - 19 October 2022, Israel, Tel Aviv: The then Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz speaks during a pre-election event at the Manufacturers Association of Israel. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 19 October 2022, Israel, Tel Aviv: The then Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz speaks during a pre-election event at the Manufacturers Association of Israel. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

Israel does not need to keep troops in the southern Gazan border area for security reasons and should not be used as a reason to prevent a deal to bring back remaining hostages from the Gaza Strip, a longtime military veteran said on Tuesday.
Benny Gantz, a former general and chief of staff who had been part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet until he quit in June, said Iran, not the so-called Philadelphi corridor, on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, was Israel's main existential threat.
In a news conference in response to comments on Monday by Netanyahu, who held firm in his belief that Israel needed troops in Philadelphi, Gantz said that while the corridor was important to prevent Hamas and other Palestinian militants from smuggling weapons into Gaza, soldiers would be "sitting ducks" and won't stop tunnels.
He also rebutted Netanyahu's assertion that if Israel were to pull out from Philadelphi, international pressure would make it difficult to return.
"We will be able to return to Philadelphi if and when we are required," Gantz said, also calling for new elections.
"If Netanyahu does not understand that after October 7 everything has changed ... and if he is not strong enough to withstand the international pressure to return to Philadelphi, let him put down the keys and go home."
The issue of the Philadelphi corridor has been a major sticking point in efforts to secure a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and return Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Some 101 hostages are still being held in Gaza.
Netanyahu's stance on the negotiations, which have been continuing for weeks while showing little sign of a breakthrough, has frustrated allies, including the United States, and widened a rift with his own defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
"The story is not Philadelphi but the lack of making truly strategic decisions," said Gantz.
He added there was a plan in place to block underground Hamas tunnels with a barrier but that Netanyahu has not promoted this politically.
While Gantz, head of a centrist party that is seen as the largest threat to head a new government, was speaking as thousands of Israelis protested for a third straight day in Tel Aviv in support of a deal to bring back the hostages.
"We need to bring about a deal - either in stages or in one stage," said Gantz, a former defense minister, who also said Israel needed to mount an attack on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to stop daily rocket fire and allow displaced citizens of the north to return home.
Responding to Gantz, Netanyahu said in a statement that since Gantz and his party left the government, Israel has eliminated key Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and seized the Philadelphi corridor, "the lifeline by which Hamas arms itself".
"Whoever does not contribute to the victory and the return of the hostages would do well not to interfere," he said.



Syrian Govt Visits Notorious Al-Hol Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
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Syrian Govt Visits Notorious Al-Hol Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)

A Syrian government delegation visited a notorious camp in the Kurdish-administered northeast that hosts families of suspected ISIS group members, the new authorities' first visit, both sides said Saturday.

Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to ISIS, more than five years after the group’s territorial defeat in Syria.

Kurdish administration official Sheikhmous Ahmed said "a tripartite meeting was held on Saturday in the Al-Hol camp" that included a government delegation, another from the US-led international coalition fighting ISIS, and Kurdish administration members.

Al-Hol is northeast Syria's largest camp, housing some 37,000 people from dozens of countries, including 14,500 Iraqis, in dire conditions.

Discussions involved "establishing a mechanism for removing Syrian families from Al-Hol camp", Ahmed said.

The visit comes more than two months after interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, agreed to integrate the Kurds' civil and military institutions into the national government.

The deal also involved guaranteeing the return of all Syrians to their hometowns and villages.

No progress has yet been reported on the administration's integration into the new government.

In Damascus, interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba told reporters Al-Hol is "part of the agreement" signed by Sharaa and Abdi.

He said the issue requires "a comprehensive societal solution for the families who are victims" of ISIS.

In February, the Kurdish administration said that in coordination with the United Nations, it aimed to empty camps in the northeast of thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, including suspected relatives of extremists, by the end of the year.

Al-Hol includes a high-security section for families of foreign ISIS fighters.

Ahmed said the fate of those families "is linked to the countries that have nationals (in the camp), and to the international coalition", which supported Kurdish-led forces who fought ISIS, detaining its fighters and their relatives.

The Kurds have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their citizens, but foreign governments have allowed home only a trickle, fearing security threats and a domestic political backlash.

It is unclear who will administer prisons holding thousands of ISIS fighters in the northeast, with Abdi saying in February the new authorities wanted them under Damascus's control.