Israel insists on keeping troops in Gaza. That complicates truce talks with Hamas

As Israel and Hamas move closer to a ceasefire agreement, Israel says it wants to maintain troops in a southern corridor of the Gaza Strip — a condition that could derail the talks. An Israeli official said an outstanding issue in the negotiations was Israel's desire to keep forces in the territory during a 60-day truce, including in the east-west axis that Israel calls the Morag corridor. Keeping a foothold in the Morag corridor is a key element in Israel's plan to drive hundreds of thousands of Palestinians south toward a narrow swath of land along the border with Egypt, into what it has termed a “humanitarian city.”