section_path: Negotiation process/July 2024 to January 2025: Philadelphi Corridor
section_name: July 2024 to January 2025: Philadelphi Corridor
paragraph_text: July 2024 to January 2025: Philadelphi Corridor
  
  In July, Netanyahu announced that Israel would not end its occupation of the Philadelphi Corridor, which constitutes Gaza Strip's border with Egypt. This new demand contradicted the May proposal announced by Biden. The May proposal envisioned Israel withdrawing from the entirety of the Gaza Strip in the second stage; back in May, Israel had not yet captured the corridor. Hamas rejected Netanyahu's new demand, calling on Israel to "stick to agreed ceasefire plan."
  
  Palestinians, including Hamas, see the demand for occupying the corridor as the beginning of a lasting military occupation and a return of Israeli settlements to Gaza. Indeed, Israeli cabinet ministers in Gaza have openly stated they want Israelis to settle Gaza. Netanyahu said he wanted to maintain the occupation of the corridor in order to prevent weapons smuggling, but others said this demand made no sense and was more likely being used by Netanyahu so he could cling to power. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the Israeli military could always recapture the corridor in eight hours if it needed to. In addition, an Israeli general warned it would be dangerous to leave Israeli soldiers permanently stationed there.
  
  In addition to the Palestinians, Egypt was also deeply opposed to a permanent Israeli occupation of the Philadelphi corridor, although it would tolerate a phased Israeli withdrawal from the corridor. Egypt sees an Israeli presence at the corridor to be a violation of the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, under which each side is allowed to have only a small number of soldiers in the border zone. At one point in August, Egypt even refused to pass along an Israeli proposal to Hamas, deeming the proposal to be objectionable.
  
  Another complicating factor were Israel's military continued operations in Gaza City, which negotiators warned could have "disastrous repercussions" for their talks.
  
  In an early-September 2024 Haaretz report, an unnamed coalition partner of Netanyahu stated that the Israeli PM had decided several weeks earlier he did not want a ceasefire deal. A report by Channel 12 found Netanyahu had sought "relentlessly" to block a ceasefire deal. Yedioth Ahronoth stated that Netanyahu had sabotaged a hostage ceasefire deal in July 2024 by adding a number of additional last minute demands. A report by U.S. authorities privately acknowledged in mid-September 2024 that the Biden Administration would fail to negotiate a ceasefire before the end of its term. According to unnamed U.S. officials, Biden believed Netanyahu did not want a ceasefire and was rather extending the conflict to help both himself and Trump politically.
  
  In early October 2024, U.S. officials said that they believed that Sinwar was no longer interested in a ceasefire deal with Israel, saying he had become "inflexible" and "fatalistic" as the war had progressed, adding that he was hoping for it to expand into a wider regional conflict involving Iran.
  
  In November 2024, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated, "In my estimation, a political settlement will be reached by the end of the year". Senior Israeli officials have suggested that the Israeli government is not seeking a hostage deal but is instead seeking the annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip. Following the election of Trump as US president in November 2024, it was reported that the new president-elect was striving to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal before inauguration on 20 January 2025. In addition, Trump publicly threatened Hamas with unspecified retaliation if hostages were not released.
  
  On 17 December, it was reported that Netanyahu decided to travel to Cairo to promote a ceasefire deal. On the following day, it was reported gaps were narrowing. On 13 January 2025, it was reported that the parties have reached the final draft of the agreement. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad stated that it was involved in the final negotiations. On 16 January 2025, the day after the ceasefire was announced but before it was approved, Israeli military launched across the Gaza Strip killed 86 and injured over 250 Palestinians. On 17 January, a deal for a 42-day ceasefire was achieved, with the deal, which also calls for the release of Israeli hostages, then being approved by the security cabinet in an afternoon vote. Later in the day, the deal was given full cabinet approval and signed by its negotiators.
  
  The deal was achieved through negotiations mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar. CNN reported that both the Biden administration and U.S. president-elect Donald Trump 's incoming administration played equal roles, with the role of the former administration facilitated by Middle Eastern negotiator Brett McGurk, and were willing to work together and compromise due to a desire for a solution prior to the latter's inauguration. Prior to its conclusion, Trump repeatedly warned that failure to release the hostages, including seven American citizens, before his 20 January inauguration would result in "hell to pay". A diplomat told The Washington Post that Trump pressured the Israeli side to accept the deal. Israeli sources also state that the incoming Trump administration revived the talks for a ceasefire. The New York Times also remarked on Biden's heavy involvement in the negotiations, mentioning particularly how McGurk collaborated with Trump's future special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. Witkoff said that Biden's advisor McGurk was "in the lead", which The New York Times reported both camps deemed was accurate and that Biden's team did most of the work.