Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has stated repeatedly that Egypt won’t allow the forced displacement of Gaza’s population [Getty]
The Egyptian government has warned the US and Israel against plans to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, Egyptian sources told The New Arab’s Arabic-language edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Tuesday.
The message came via “direct diplomatic channels” and emphasised Cairo’s total rejection of any large-scale military operations or full ground invasion of Gaza, as reports emerge that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been convinced to seize Gaza.
It warns that such a move would pose a serious threat to Egyptian national security and could jeopardise the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
The sources stated that Cairo would view any major Israeli military operation as an attempt to impose a new status quo in Gaza, and such a move “wouldn’t go unanswered by a firm Egyptian diplomatic response, potentially followed by reviews at multiple levels, including bilateral agreements with Tel Aviv”.
Egypt, which shares a land border with the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing, fears that a wide-scale military operation could lead to thousands of Palestinians being displaced and pushed toward its territory.
Israeli and Western reports have suggested plans are underway for the forced expulsion of Gaza’s population; something Cairo considers a red line.
Former Egyptian Ambassador Masoum Marzouk told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the current situation “is akin to a fire approaching a powderkeg”.
He warned that every day of stasis “reduces the range of options available, and further emboldens the enemy to proceed with its aggressive plans”.
Marzouk added that “despite the narrowing window of opportunity, there is still an urgent need for immediate, pre-emptive action, which may be the last chance for us to avoid an impending regional catastrophe”.
Ambassador Rakha Ahmed Hassan, former Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Egypt categorically rejects any form of Israeli occupation, whether in Gaza, the West Bank, southern Lebanon, or southern Syria.
He stressed that the occupation of any territory constitutes “a blatant aggression against the rights of peoples and an unacceptable violation of international law and the right to self-determination, which is guaranteed by international charters for all nations”.
Observers believe that Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza would, if implemented, entail a full-scale military campaign against densely populated areas in southern Gaza, where over a million Palestinians have taken refuge since the war began.
They warn that “eliminating Hamas” via military means alone would inevitably impact civilians and result in insupportable mass displacement or a worsening of the genocide in Gaza.
In the event of a major wave of displacement, the closest destination for those fleeing the bombardment would be the Egyptian border, which would present Cairo with an extremely sensitive geopolitical and humanitarian situation, directly linked to its national security, demographic composition, and regional commitments.
Cairo fears that any large-scale military operation in the Rafah and Khan Younis areas would push residents there toward the Rafah crossing, particularly with no mechanisms in place to support such a forced population transfer with the number of people starving to death increasing by the day.
This article is based on an Arabic-language report from Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.