Egyptian high-level source says Netanyahu spreading lies against Egypt to cover up Gaza war failures

CAIRO – 5 September 2024: An Egyptian high-level source emphasized that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is spreading lies against Egypt to cover up his failure to achieve his war objectives, including the release of captives.

The source said Israel has failed to eradicate the arms smuggling mafia from Karm Abu Salem to Gaza, noting that Netanyahu’s claims of weapons smuggling from Egypt aims to dismiss attention from his failure in the captive file.

The source accused Netanyahu of allowing weapons smuggling from inside Israel to the West Bank.

The source added that the Israeli government has demonstrated failure and completely lost its credibility.

He added that frustration has prevailed among all parties over Netanyahu's continued sabotage of ceasefire efforts.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu said that Israeli troops must continue existing in the Philadelphi Corridor, a buffer zone along the Egypt-Gaza border, to prevent weapons and possibly Israeli captives being dispatched across the border.

His remarks came after six Israeli captives held in Gaza have been killed, with Hamas blaming their death on the continued Israeli strikes across Gaza.

The families of Israeli captives taken by Hamas on October 7 have blamed Netanyahu on the fresh deaths of six of the captives in Gaza, calling on him to take responsibility for their passing.

“A deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for over two months. Were it not for the delays, sabotage and excuses, the six hostages whose deaths we learned about this morning would likely still be alive,” the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said in a Facebook post.

Their deaths have sparked massive protests across Israel in a bid to exert pressure on Israel to sign a deal to allow a prisoner-captive swap with Hamas and achieve ceasefire in Gaza.

As mediators, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have stepped up their efforts over the past month with fresh rounds of talks in Cairo and Doha in a bid to reach a deal that stops the war and achieve a prisoner swap.

However, Netanyahu has added extra conditions for a ceasefire deal, bringing him accusation from top Israeli politicians that he is sabotaging efforts of reaching a deal that would bring back the captives safely.

Among these conditions is that any deal must ensure that Israel can resume the fighting and that Israeli forces remain in the Philadelphi Corridor despite Egypt’s repeated condemnation.

The Gaza war has persisted for nearly 11 months, with relentless Israeli attacks killing 40,878 individuals and injuring 94,454, as reported by Gaza's health ministry on Thursday.

Furthermore, the war has led to the displacement of the majority of Gaza's 2.2 million residents and pushed the strip to the brink of famine.