Sending an Israeli delegation to Cairo for negotiations is a ‘mistake’, says Bezalel Smotrich

AA / Jerusalem / Abdel Raouf Arnaout

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that sending a delegation from the Jewish state to Cairo for talks was a “mistake”, urging Israeli officials not to give in to international pressure.

This comes from a message posted on the social network responsible for conducting the negotiations) is expected to travel to Cairo in the coming hours.

The source explained that the delegation will travel to the Egyptian capital to “listen and ask questions given the deep differences [de points de vue]”, without giving further details.

However, Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Mafdal-Religious Zionism party, stressed in his message that ‘sending a delegation to Cairo is a mistake and means falling into the manipulative trap set by Hamas, Qatar and Egypt.’

And he added: “This is the right time to put more and more pressure on the neck of Yahya Sinouar and Hamas until they are destroyed.”

Israel’s far-right finance minister insists dialogue must now take place ‘only through fire’ [des armes].”

“You must not give in to international pressure and you must not stop until victory and submission of the enemy. This is our war for independence and we must win it,” he told Israeli officials.

He emphasized that Israel’s victory in the war includes “three phases that should ensure the safety of the people of the south [l’État hébreu]”.

“First, the complete occupation of the city of Rafah. Second, the destruction of all tunnel networks in the city of Rafah and its surroundings. Third, the complete takeover of the Philadelphia axis and the Rafah crossing,” he detailed.

He added: “Immediately after these three stages, we will continue the incursion towards Deir al-Balah, Nusseirat and the camps of the central district, in order to complete the destruction of the Hamas brigades.”

For the first time since 2005, tanks entered the eastern part of the “Philadelphia axis” that separates the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Tuesday morning, after the Israeli army took control of the Rafah border crossing and cut off humanitarian aid access to the besieged Palestinian territory.

The escalation comes after the head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismaïl Haniyeh, announced that he had accepted a proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip presented by Egypt and Qatar, the two mediator countries.

The Philadelphia Axis or “Salah al-Din Axis” is a corridor 14.5 kilometers long and 100 meters wide that runs along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, on the Egyptian side. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Karem Abou Salem (or Kerem Shalom) crossing in the south, and is located in buffer zone D on the border between Egypt and the Palestinian enclave.

The Salah al-Din Axis was established under the Camp David Peace Accords signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979, as a buffer zone.

*Translated from Arabic by Majdi Ismail​​​​​​

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