Netanyahu says Israel must control Gaza’s border with Egypt, war to last months

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retake control of the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt, expanding Israel’s mission to neutralize Hamas in a conflict it says it expects to last for months.
“The war is at its height,” Netanyahu told reporters on Saturday of the fighting since Oct. 7 when the Palestinian militant group Hamas and its allies infiltrated Israel, killing 1,200 people and capturing 240 hostages.
He said the Philadelphi Corridor buffer zone that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt must be in Israeli hands.
“It must be shut,” Netanyahu said. “It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarisation that we seek.”
He did not elaborate, but such a move by Israel would be a de facto reversal of its 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, placing the enclave under exclusive Israeli control after years being run by Hamas.
Netanyahu’s comments about the buffer zone came as Israeli military forces pressed ahead with an offensive that the prime minister reiterated will last “for many more months.”