Egyptian officials are racing against time to stop the escalating war between Israel and Hamas, while Cairo is concerned that the escalation may extend to its borders with Gaza.
As Egyptians barely finished celebrating the 50th anniversary of their surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 6, 1973 — also known as the Yom Kippur War — Hamas militants were in the midst of their own sudden attack on southern Israeli towns. In the course of one morning, the militants took more than 100 hostages and fired more than 3,000 rockets toward the Jewish state.
By the time of this writing, more than 1,300 Israelis have been killed in the attack and more than 1,500 Palestinians in the Israeli response to Hamas.
All across social media, everyday Egyptian citizens, as well as Egyptian and Israeli politicians and political experts, compared the 1973 attack and the latest attack and the failure of Israeli intelligence and security forces to anticipate either of them.
“It’s a scandal for Israeli intelligence agencies, even for the US [intelligence] agency,” retired Egyptian army officer Maj. Gen. Samir Farag told Al-Monitor.
Farag said Egypt has already contacted and sent delegations to both sides of the conflict as part of its efforts to reach a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, but the parties have yet to accept any assistance for negotiations.
“We received many contacts, but we are not discussing negotiations on prisoners or anything else now,” Qatar-based Hamas official Husam Badran told Al-Monitor. “So far, we are focusing on the battlefield,” he added.
As the Israeli army continues to pound the Gaza Strip for the sixth day, many Egyptians have rallied behind the Palestinian cause, while government officials are increasingly wary of a potential influx of Palestinian refugees to the country. Rafah is the only crossing point into Sinai for Gaza’s population 2.3 million.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Tuesday that the escalation in Gaza was “highly dangerous.” On Thursday, he went a step further, saying that Palestinians in Gaza must “stay steadfast and remain on their land,” as Cairo seeks to avert a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip into its Sinai Peninsula.
Tension within Egypt after Alexandria attack
Fears of tension within Egypt are also of concern to the authorities. In the aftermath of the Hamas’ attack, an Egyptian policeman opened fire “randomly” on a group of Israeli tourists at Pompey’s Pillar tourist site in Alexandria, killing two Israelis and their Egyptian tour guide. The suspected shooter was detained and is currently under investigation by authorities, according to a statement from Egypt’s Interior Ministry.
“Although the Alexandria incident seems an individual case, it reflects most Egyptians’ sympathy and solidarity with the Palestinians,” former deputy Foreign Minister and member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs Rakha Ahmed Hassan told Al-Monitor.
The incident came four months after a similar attack in which an Egyptian security officer killed three Israelis in an exchange of fire on the Israeli side of the border.
In Cairo, dozens of students from the prestigious American University in Cairo held a protest in support of the Palestinian people on Monday. Students were seen waving Palestinian flags and holding banners with slogans such as “Free Palestine.”
At the same time, Al-Azhar, the world’s leading Sunni Islamic institution, hailed the Hamas attack and praised the resistance of the Palestinian people. “Every occupation will eventually end, regardless of how long or short it lasts,” Al-Azhar said in a press statement on Sunday.
Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 after decades of conflict, and the two countries maintain full diplomatic relations. Yet their ties are still viewed by many as a “cold peace.”
Sinai ‘in the scene’
As the Israeli army continues to pound the Gaza Strip for the fifth day in a row, northern Sinai Gov. Gen. Mohamed Abdel-Fadil Shousha announced on Sunday the lifting of the state of emergency, which had been in place for years in light of security tensions between the army and Islamist groups in the governorate.
During an urgent meeting held in the governorate, Shousha directed “all local authorities to list schools, housing units and vacant land to be used as shelters if required,” in anticipation of a wave of Gazans fleeing the Israeli bombing.
Shousha also designated a spot in the governorate to receive humanitarian and relief assistance arriving in northern Sinai in preparation for its entry into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian army also tightened surveillance along the borders with Gaza and Israel to prevent the infiltration of any militants to Egypt’s side, a journalist covering the developments in Sinai told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.
The Egyptian Red Crescent dispatched the first batch of emergency medical aid to Gaza via the Rafah border crossing on Sunday. In a statement on its Facebook page, the Red Crescent said that three wounded Palestinians had entered northern Sinai on Monday through the crossing.
However, it seems aid on the border has been disrupted as Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes in Rafah late on Monday, with one strike targeting the Palestinian gate of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior in Gaza said in a press statement. The strikes came after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a “complete siege” of Gaza, cutting off access to water, electricity, food and fuel.
At the same time, the Israeli army called on the residents of Gaza to flee to Sinai. “I am aware that the Rafah crossing is still open,” Israeli army spokesperson for foreign media Richard Hecht told reporters on Tuesday. “Anyone who can get out, I would advise them to get out.”
Hecht’s office later issued a statement on X that read: “Clarification: The Rafah crossing was open yesterday, but now it is closed.”
Hecht’s initial statement raised the anger of Egyptian officials. In a quick response, Al-Qahera News television channel, which has close ties to Egyptian security agencies, cited high-level Egyptian sources warning against pushing civilian Palestinians toward the Egyptian borders and fueling calls for mass displacement.
Egyptian national security analyst Gen. Mohammed Abdel-Wahed told Al-Monitor that the latest Egyptian warning against pushing Gazan civilians toward Egyptian borders conveys an explicit message to Israel and the international community that Egyptian sovereignty “is absolute and cannot be compromised” and that Israel is responsible for ensuring safe passage for Palestinians in Gaza.
This warning also dismisses any aspirations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have regarding previous proposals concerning Sinai in the context of the so-called “new Middle East,” Abdel-Wahed added. Some Egyptians fear the transfer of the Palestinians in Gaza to a new home in Sinai, and those in the West Bank to Jordan.
Difficult negotiations
Egyptian politician and diplomat Amr Moussa, who was former secretary-general of the Arab League, said in a series of posts on X on Sunday that now is the time for Arab nations to call for a Security Council meeting and push for peace negotiations based on the international treaties reached between the Israeli and Palestinian sides.
“Maybe now Israel has finally understood that … its safety can only be achieved through peace with the Palestinians and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” he added in another post.
Arab League foreign ministers met in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss avenues of political action at the Arab and international levels to stop Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. The league called for the immediate cessation of hostilities and criticized Israel’s siege of the enclave following the meeting.
Meanwhile, Egypt is racing against time to stop the war from escalating. Sisi warned again on Tuesday that the current escalation between Israel and Hamas could have implications that may affect the security and stability of the whole region.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony of police cadets in Cairo, he stressed that Egypt is intensifying its efforts at all levels to halt the current military confrontations, spare the blood of the Palestinian people, and protect civilians on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
“Cairo used to play a major mediator role between Israel and Palestinian groups in many previous conflicts, but this time, it’s totally different and very complicated with this huge number of [Israeli] victims and hostages,” Abdel-Wahed said.
The hostage issue “would be Egypt’s key to convincing the Israel army to de-escalate the situation, but not before Israel spills its rancor and wakes up from the shock of Hamas’ attack,” Hassan said.
He expects the attack on Gaza to last at least another week.