Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will only agree to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza that guarantees the border area between southern Gaza and Egypt could never be used as a lifeline for the movement Hamas, Reuters reports.

“Until that happens, we’re there,” he told a news conference in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu repeated his outright rejection of a withdrawal from the so-called Philadelphi corridor in the first phase of a deal, expected to last 42 days, saying international pressure would make it effectively impossible to return.

For a permanent ceasefire to be agreed upon after that, Israel would need guarantees that whoever ran Gaza after the bombardment was over would be able to prevent the corridor from being used as a route for smuggling weapons and supplies for Hamas.

“Somebody has to be there,” he said.

“Bring me anyone who will actually show — not on paper, not in words, not on a slide - but day after day, week after week, month after month, that they can actually prevent a recurrence of what happened there before,” he said, referring to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

“We’re open to consider it, but I don’t see that happening right now.”

Netanyahu said maintaining pressure on Hamas was the best way to return the 101 hostages still remaining in Gaza.

“You need to squeeze them, to put pressure on them to release the remaining hostages. So if you want to release the hostages, you’ve got to control the Philadelphi corridor,” he said.