Netanyahu doubles down on control of Gaza’s border with Egypt

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu said conditions for any permanent ceasefire must include “a situation where the Philadelphi corridor cannot be perforated.”

He said if someone could show, “not on paper, not in words, not in a slide, but on the ground, day after day, week after week, month after month that they can actually prevent the recurrence of what happened there before we’re open to consider it.”

But, he continued, “I don’t see that happening […] And until that happens, we are there.”

His comments open a miniscule crack in his repeated insistence that Israeli forces would not leave Gaza’s southern border.

But he also doubled-down on his insistence that Israel needed to keep troops there for its security, describing it as a “red line”.

“People said: this will kill the deal,” he continued. “And I say: such a deal will kill us.”

Making more concessions after Hamas killed six hostages last week would be “illogical”, “immoral” and “insane,” he insisted.

“We have red lines. They haven’t changed. We’ll hold to them.”