Senior US official labels Netanyahu's remarks on Gaza ceasefire ‘not constructive’

Netanyahu said that Israel would insist on maintaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt

A US official on Tuesday criticised “maximalist” remarks attributed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on maintaining control of the Gaza-Egypt border, saying it was not helpful to reaching a ceasefire with Hamas.

“Maximalist statements like this are not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line,” said the senior official travelling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Middle East, requesting anonymity to talk about sensitive discussions.

Such remarks “certainly risk the ability of implementing-level, working-level and technical talks to be able to move forward (once) both parties agree to a bridging proposal,” he said.

The official said that Blinken stood by his public statement in Tel Aviv on Monday that Netanyahu had agreed to a US proposal to bridge the gaps on a ceasefire laid out on May 31 by President Joe Biden.

Netanyahu, in reported remarks to families of victims of attacks, said that Israel would insist on maintaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt which Israeli forces seized from Hamas in the more than 10-month war.

“We saw the prime minister’s comments, especially on some of these items. We’re not going to negotiate in public,” the US official said.

The official said that such “technical” issues would need to be ironed out in further discussions.

“The only thing Secretary Blinken and the United States are convinced of is the need for getting the ceasefire deal across the finish line,” the official said.

“There will be additional conversations on technical specifics, many of which of course are being discussed in the press, which is certainly not helpful to the process,” he said.

The United States expects diplomacy to move forward this week between Israel and Hamas on reaching a ceasefire, despite uncertainties in particular on Hamas’s response, the official said.

“We fully expect this process to continue into this week,” the official said, without confirming any formal meeting this week involving Israel and Hamas.

The White House last week, when presenting the bridging proposal in Doha, said that it expected new talks on finalising the deal to take place later this week in Cairo.

Blinken arrived in Doha late Tuesday for talks with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, after meeting the leaders of Egypt and Israel.