ISTANBUL

Egyptian Army Chief of Staff Ahmed Fathy Khalifa made a surprise visit Thursday to his country’s borders with the Gaza Strip to inspect the security situation.

A statement said Khalifa inspected security measures along the border with Gaza, without providing details.

"The armed forces are capable of defending the homeland's borders, a generation after another," Khalifa said during the visit.

The visit came one day after a high-level Egyptian source accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of hindering Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap talks by making claims about weapons smuggling through the Egypt-Gaza border.

The Al-Qahera News Channel later cited a high-ranking Egyptian source who said, “The past few months have proven that Netanyahu does not care about the return of the Israeli hostages (in Gaza) alive as long as it conflicts with his personal goals and interests.”

“Netanyahu's statements lack realism and aim to shift the responsibility for his failure to achieve his objectives in Gaza, which is witnessing genocide, onto other countries,” said the source. "The Israeli Prime Minister's promotion of weapons being smuggled from Egypt (through alleged tunnels under the border) is yet another lie to justify his government's failure to control the smuggling of weapons from Israel into Gaza.”

The Philadelphi Corridor -- a demilitarized area along Egypt’s border with Gaza, has been a sticking point in cease-fire and prisoner swap negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

Netanyahu insists on maintaining a military presence along the axis, claiming that the corridor is a “lifeline” for Hamas to rearm.

Egypt rejects any Israeli military presence on the corridor and has denounced Netanyahu’s claims about weapons smuggling into Gaza through its territory.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last week that the Israeli military withdrawal from the Corridor poses no security problem to Israel.

The US, Qatar and Egypt have been for months trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and a cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Hamas’ demands to stop the war.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 40,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed and nearly 94,300 injured, according to local health authorities.

An ongoing blockade of the enclave has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide for its actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar and Rania Abu Shamala