Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cast doubt on the prospects of reaching a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, and declared to the families of hostages held in Gaza that he rejects withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor, which he described as “our security and strategic resources.”

Although the hostages are a central issue in Israeli discourse, “Netanyahu sees them as a source of media damage, a tool of contention in the hands of his political opponents and a distraction from the goal, which is the continued occupation of the Gaza Strip, or as he has repeatedly declared since the beginning of the war, ‘Israeli security control,’” according to an analysis by Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn on Wednesday.

Ben explained that controlling the Philadelphi Corridor and along the Gaza Strip's borders allows Israel to surround the Gaza Strip from its three land sides and isolate it from Egypt, while controlling the "Netzarim" Corridor divides the northern Gaza Strip, where a small number of residents remain and homes and infrastructure are destroyed, and the southern Gaza Strip, which is crowded with refugees from the entire Gaza Strip.

He pointed to the policy of displacing the Palestinians: "In practice, a long-term settlement 'for the day after' is crystallizing here. Israel controls northern Gaza and is pushing out of this area the 300,000 Palestinians who are still there. Reserve General Giora Eiland, the war theorist, proposes starving them to death, or expelling them into the diaspora, as a lever of pressure on Hamas."

He added, "The Israeli right covets this area for Jewish settlement, with its enormous real estate potential, comfortable topography, sea view, and proximity to Tel Aviv and its region."

"The experience of 57 years of occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem means that this will be a long process that requires a lot of patience and the ability to maneuver diplomatically. They will not establish a large Jewish city in Gaza tomorrow, but they will advance without another dimension, one caravan after another; as in (the settlement outposts in) Hebron, Elon Moreh and Havat Gilad," he added.

He believed that "the south of Gaza will remain Hamas's, and it will be forced to care for the population who lack everything, imprisoned under an Israeli siege, and also after the international community loses interest in this story and moves on to other crises (in the world)."

“Netanyahu estimates that after the US presidential election, the influence of pro-Palestinian protesters on US policy will diminish, even if Kamala Harris wins,” Benn predicted. “If Donald Trump returns to the White House, Netanyahu expects to give him a free hand. In both scenarios, America, with its aircraft carriers, is supposed to deter Iran from a full-scale deterioration, or to get itself involved in a war in order to save Israel.”

He stressed that "there should be no confusion: the occupation is the goal for which Netanyahu is fighting, even at the cost of the death of the remaining kidnapped soldiers, and at the risk of a regional war. The pillars that support his rule, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, will remain in place as long as he seeks, in words and deeds, a permanent occupation and a creeping annexation of the Gaza Strip."

Benn concluded that "Netanyahu repeated during this week's cabinet meeting his election slogan from 1996 against the Oslo Accords, 'negotiations, not concessions,' which means in Hebrew that an occupied territory cannot be returned, not even under international pressure; and in the current round, not even in exchange for the requests of the kidnapped soldiers and their families. This is the goal of his war."