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"the aggression stops = the prisoners come back alive; the aggression continues = the prisoners' lives are uncertain." on september 4, as the hostage deaths triggered large-scale street protests in israel, hamas posted on its official social media platform in english, arabic and hebrew to threaten israelis, "every day that (israeli prime minister) netanyahu continues to rule could mean a new coffin. the decision is in your hands."

israelis were gripped by grief and anger over the weekend after six israeli hostages were killed in gaza, sparking mass protests and strikes - the strongest domestic pressure on prime minister benjamin netanyahu since the war began nearly 11 months ago.

since the new round of israeli-palestinian conflict broke out on october 7, 2023, except for a one-week ceasefire between israel and hamas in november last year and the release of dozens of hostages by hamas, the ceasefire negotiations in the gaza strip have failed to make progress, and the military conflict has also spread to the west bank and neighboring lebanon.

in the new round of ceasefire negotiations last month, israel's insistence on stationing troops in the "philadelphia corridor" on the border between gaza and egypt was seen by the outside world as the key to reaching an agreement. however, whether the "philadelphia corridor" is the israeli government's new "red line" or a cover for netanyahu to appease his far-right allies to maintain his ruling position and achieve his military strategic goal of "completely eliminating hamas" has sparked various speculations in the public opinion.

according to the latest news, a new round of ceasefire negotiations may see a turnaround. on september 4, cctv news quoted an israeli source as saying that israel has informed the mediator that it agrees to withdraw from the "philadelphia corridor" in the second phase of the hostage exchange agreement. an arab diplomat confirmed to the times of israel that david barnea, director of the israeli intelligence agency mossad, flew to doha urgently on the 2nd to inform qatari prime minister and foreign minister mohammed, one of the mediators, of israel's position on withdrawing from the "philadelphia corridor" in the second phase of the negotiation agreement. netanyahu's office did not deny the report, but explained that the israeli security cabinet has not yet discussed the second phase of the agreement.

at the same time, the united states said that israel has accepted the latest proposal, which requires the idf to withdraw from the densely populated areas of the "philadelphia corridor" in the first phase of the agreement, which will last for six weeks. us media revealed that biden will put forward a new ceasefire negotiation agreement proposal this week.

why were the hostages killed?

"their (the deceased hostages') names were on the ceasefire negotiation agreement. the israeli and israeli sides could have signed (the agreement), but now they have left us." on september 2, protesters in tel aviv, israel told the media.

the israeli ministry of health said on september 1 that the six hostages were killed 48 to 72 hours before the autopsy (editor's note: the morning of august 29 to 30). the times of israel quoted the ministry as saying that the forensic examination found that the cause of death of the six hostages was "multiple close-range gunshots." an israeli government official told israel's channel 14 that if israel and hamas can reach an agreement on a ceasefire plan in july, three of the hostages may be released in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.

an israeli security official speculated that hamas may have executed the six hostages out of concern that the rescued hostages would reveal the locations of other hostages. the times of israel reported that the hostage the official referred to was 52-year-old caid farhan al-arkadi, who was rescued from a tunnel by israeli special forces on august 27. the idf stressed that after farhan was rescued, the military took "cautious actions" in the vicinity. on august 31, local time, the israeli army searched a tunnel about one kilometer away from where farhan was held, and found the bodies of the six hostages that afternoon. the idf said that the military did not clash with hamas militants in the tunnel, but had engaged in fierce battles with them on the ground.

after the news of the killing of six hostages broke out, large-scale demonstrations and strikes broke out across israel, demanding that the government reach an agreement on the release of the hostages as soon as possible. on the evening of the 2nd, thousands of demonstrators gathered outside netanyahu's private residence in downtown jerusalem, chanting "reach an agreement immediately" and carrying a coffin covered with the israeli flag. the boston globe reported that israeli police clashed with demonstrators and several protesters were arrested.

the media line, an independent american media outlet, wrote that the hostage killings have deepened divisions within israel - some people advocate for strong military action, while others propose that the israeli government should conduct strategic negotiations. arnon bar-david, chairman of the histadrut, which organized the massive protests, said on the 1st that reaching an agreement to free the hostages "is the most important thing." the israeli hostage families forum called for a "complete ceasefire" and a ceasefire agreement to release the hostages. a poll conducted by the israel democracy institute in may showed that more than half of the respondents (56%) said that reaching an agreement to release gaza hostages was more important than expanding military operations in southern gaza.

senior hamas official izzat al-rishq said the hostages may still have a chance to survive if israel accepts a ceasefire proposal backed by the united states (editor's note: hamas claims to have accepted the proposal in july). meanwhile, hamas said on the 2nd that if israel continues to exert military pressure, the hostages will be "sent back in coffins", adding that if israeli troops approach the hostages, the militants guarding the hostages will receive "new instructions".

the six hostages killed included hersh goldberg-pollin, a dual israeli-american citizen. the biden administration has stepped up pressure on netanyahu in recent days. biden said at the white house on the 2nd that netanyahu had not made "enough" efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement to rescue the remaining hostages, and said that the united states plans to submit a final proposal to both sides this week. the washington post quoted several senior us government officials as saying that the united states, egypt and qatar are discussing a "take it or leave it" agreement. an official said that if israel and kazakhstan do not accept the agreement, the us-led negotiations may end.

where does the “problem” of the “philadelphia corridor” come from?

the hostage incident has once again made the "philadelphia corridor" issue a focus of public opinion. some analysts believe that the "philadelphia corridor" is the main reason why the ceasefire agreement is still pending.

everything can be traced back to the ceasefire agreement proposed by the white house at the end of may. on may 31, biden announced a new proposal aimed at achieving a permanent ceasefire in the gaza strip and ensuring the release of detained persons. mediators such as egypt and qatar have conducted multiple diplomatic mediations around the agreement. the washington post reported that the negotiations were restarted in an "optimistic atmosphere." in early july, there were reports that hamas had given up some of its tough demands under pressure from the united states. based on this, the white house repeatedly told the outside world that it "believed that an agreement would be reached soon."

later that month, israeli negotiators put forward new demands for the ceasefire agreement, namely that the israeli army must remain in the "philadelphia corridor" and the rafah border crossing with egypt. israel argued that the demand for the "philadelphia corridor" was a "clarification" of biden's speech at the end of may and the un security council ceasefire resolution, and accused hamas of making new demands that were "unacceptable" to israel during the negotiations. in response to this statement, the associated press reviewed several negotiation documents and concluded that the early draft of the ceasefire proposal did not involve israel's control over the "philadelphia corridor". in addition, neither biden's speech nor the security council resolution mentioned israel's demands.

it was not until mid-august that major media outlets around the world began to report that the "philadelphia corridor" had become the key to the negotiations. israel and kazakhstan had hoped to "be close to reaching a ceasefire agreement" by the end of may, but netanyahu always insisted on the israeli army's position of stationing troops in the "philadelphia corridor" and the "nazarim corridor", leading to the failure of the negotiations.

hamas said that israel's long-term presence in the gaza strip is equivalent to military occupation, emphasizing that as long as the israeli army stays in the "philadelphia corridor", peace talks are almost impossible. egypt also opposes israel's stationing of any personnel in the region, warning that israel has violated the camp david accords reached in 1979.

according to xinhua news agency, the "philadelphia corridor" refers to a 14-kilometer-long narrow strip of land at the border between the gaza strip and egypt. in 2007, hamas gained control of the gaza strip and then the "philadelphia corridor". the israeli government believes that the "philadelphia corridor" is a channel for hamas to smuggle weapons, and insists that the control of the "philadelphia corridor" is to prevent hamas from rearming. however, this statement was denied by egypt and hamas, and the palestinian government also opposed the israeli military presence in this area. on may 29 this year, the israeli army claimed that it had achieved "complete control" of the "philadelphia corridor".

to this day, netanyahu continues to endorse the philadelphia corridor. at a rare press conference in jerusalem on the evening of september 2, netanyahu used a map to firmly demonstrate what he called the "strategic necessity" of keeping the idf stationed in the philadelphia corridor while defending himself against accusations of blocking the hostage exchange.

he claimed that if the idf withdrew in order to secure the release of the many surviving hostages, even during the first phase of a 42-day agreement, the idf would never be able to return and hamas would rearm to commit more october 7 "massacres."

yair lapid, the leader of the israeli opposition party "having a future", strongly criticized netanyahu's remarks, calling them baseless political propaganda aimed at maintaining the unity of his ruling coalition. lapid pointed out that netanyahu had several years to retake the "philadelphia corridor", but he did not do so and did not send the idf to retake the area until eight months after the war began.

will israel's political arena face a shakeup?

in june this year, after benny gantz, leader of the main opposition national unity party, withdrew from the wartime cabinet, divisions within the israeli government continued over the "philadelphia corridor" issue.

on august 29, netanyahu showed the deployment map of the egypt-gaza border drawn by the israeli army at a cabinet meeting, saying that the map "has been approved by the biden administration." defense minister yoav gallant then interrupted and accused netanyahu of forcing the israeli army to submit the map. according to an assistant, netanyahu "furiously slammed the table" after hearing this, accusing gallant of lying, and announced on the spot that the cabinet would vote on the map. an official told axios that gallant was the only cabinet member who voted against the resolution.

after the hostages were killed, galant continued to call on other cabinet members on september 1 to overturn the vote on september 29. lapid accused netanyahu of "preferring to appease far-right cabinet members rather than care about the fate of the remaining hostages."

this is not the first time that galant and netanyahu have clashed. the conflict between the two can be traced back to the formation of the "most right-wing government in history" in december 2022. when the judicial reform storm broke out in 2023, after galant opposed the judicial reform amendment, netanyahu tried to announce his dismissal, but was eventually forced to give up under public pressure. after the outbreak of a new round of israeli-palestinian conflict, galant has repeatedly proposed post-war plans that are inconsistent with netanyahu's ideas. israeli media have been reporting that netanyahu will dismiss galant from his post.

in addition, al jazeera pointed out in july that netanyahu was almost single-handedly managing the negotiations on the prisoner exchange agreement with hamas. israel's new news said that the israeli cabinet was worried that netanyahu was trying to prevent the prisoner exchange agreement from being reached, and he had constant disagreements with mossad director david barnea and shin bet director ronan bar over certain terms of the agreement proposal.

israeli officials confirmed that there was plenty of room for agreement but that the talks could be derailed by netanyahu’s demands, which were not in israel’s may 27 proposal.

in fact, the issue of the garrison in the "philadelphia corridor" is not only related to netanyahu's military strategic goal of "completely eliminating hamas", but also an important bargaining chip to appease far-right allies. since taking office, the party alliance led by netanyahu has held a narrow majority in the parliament, and therefore relies heavily on the support of far-right political forces, including the religious zionist party led by bezalel smotrich and the jewish power party (otzma yehudit) led by itamar ben-gvir. both support the expansion of jewish settlements in the west bank and hold the position of expelling palestinians from the gaza strip to reoccupy the area.

smotrich and ben-gvir have threatened that if netanyahu compromises, they will withdraw from the ruling coalition and force netanyahu to hold early elections. on the other hand, if netanyahu agrees to a ceasefire, his wartime crimes will also be "liquidated", and the pressure for early elections will be greater. the stratfor research center in the united states analyzed in an article that due to its heavy reliance on far-right allies, the netanyahu government faces severe challenges in responding to the demands of the domestic public and the international community for post-war gaza governance.

judging from existing polls, netanyahu's government is gaining support among center-right voters. according to the latest opinion poll conducted by israel's right-wing media channel 14, if israel holds elections now, netanyahu's likud group will win 30 seats, accounting for a quarter of the seats in the parliament. netanyahu leads benny gantz and yair lapid with 46% public support (both with 27%). the conversation website analyzed that concessions to hamas may cause him greater political losses than the consequences of failing to reach a hostage release agreement. lapid said he believed netanyahu "is catering to the interests of far-right allies." israeli hostage negotiator gershon baskin also gave a similar assessment, saying that netanyahu "sacrificed the hostages on the altar of his personal political survival."

some analysts believe that if netanyahu is unwilling to compromise on the issue of troops stationed in the "philadelphia corridor", israeli politics will once again be shaken. ameer makhoul, a researcher at the arab progressive policy center and an expert on israeli affairs, wrote in the london-based political news website middle east eye that under the influence of large-scale demonstrations, defense minister galant may eventually resign in protest and put all the blame for the current crisis on netanyahu and his far-right political allies, triggering "greater divisions" within the israeli government.