An adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has criticized Israeli plans for longer-term checks on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal, “of Israel regaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor and the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, as well as the creation of buffer zones and new security arrangements are clear evidence of a decision to re-establish complete occupation,” Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said in a post on X.

This undermines “agreements with Egypt and terminates all pacts with the PLO,” he added.

He was commenting on Netanyahu’s statements, made on Saturday evening, that after the Gaza war, Israel should also control the Philadelphi Corridor along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, some 14 kilometres long.

This is the only way to ensure the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, according to Netanyahu.

Al-Sheikh wrote of the need for “a unified Palestinian and Arab decision to confront consequences of this aggressive war and Netanyahu’s attempts to dictate new realities resulting from this war.”

Discussion continues as the war rages on over the future of Gaza.

Hamas won the 2006 parliamentary elections against Abbas’ more moderate Fatah, then violently seized sole control of the Gaza Strip a year later.

Israel withdrew from the area in 2005 and evacuated more than 20 Israeli settlements.

Since Hamas took power, there have de facto been two separate Palestinian governments, one in Gaza and one in Ramallah.