Israel’s Rafah offensive heightens strain on Egypt ties

Cairo, Egypt — AFP

Egypt, after months of measured condemnation of Israel over the Gaza war, has hardened its tone and is formally supporting an international case of genocide against Israel.

Cairo and its state-aligned media have stepped up scathing criticism of Israel over the genocidal assault on Gaza raging next door, reflecting public anger in the world’s most populous Arab nation.

The two countries have also traded blame over the closure of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a crucial lifeline for aid trucks, since Israeli forces and tanks captured the Gaza side last week.

However, despite the war of words, analysts don’t expect a threat to the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, both US allies and recipients of billions in American aid.

Since Israel began its most brutal Gaza war on October 7, Egypt under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has walked a diplomatic tightrope.

While condemning Israel and warning it against pushing Palestinian refugees across the border, it has also mediated in truce talks, kept its ambassador in Israel, and long helped deliver aid through Rafah.

But its patience has been strained further as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed a full ground invasion of Rafah city in southern Gaza, where about 1.5 million Palestinians have been pushed against the Egyptian border.

Cairo “was put in a position it didn’t want to be in, where it had to react”, said Cairo University political science professor Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyid.

Last Sunday, Egypt announced it would intervene in support of South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, without however announcing details.

Sayyid said the move signalled a “major shift”, with Egypt “moving from criticising Israeli policies to joining in trying to prove it is committing a genocide”.

– ‘Backed into corner’ –

Since Israeli forces seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, Egypt has refused to coordinate aid deliveries through the Gaza border point.

When Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he hoped to “persuade Egypt” to reopen the crossing, his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry shot back that Israel was “distorting the facts and disavowing its responsibility” for Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu again blamed Egypt and said Israel would want the Rafah crossing open “yesterday, if we could”.

– ‘Cold peace’ –

Egypt became the first Arab country to recognize Israel with the 1979 Camp David accords, and their relationship since has often been labelled a “cold peace”.

The accords also demilitarised the Sinai Peninsula and limited the arms allowed on both sides of the border.

Sayyid said that Israel, by “putting tanks and armoured vehicles near the border”, has already committed “a flagrant violation of the peace treaty”.

Shoukry, when asked about the issue, called the treaty “a strategic choice” and said “violations are tackled within a technical, military framework under set mechanisms”.

The language was in line with decades of careful security coordination, which has also allowed Egypt to move more forces into the Sinai to fight an Islamist insurgency over the past decade.

And with the neighbours’ long history of quietly dealing with disagreements, Aboudouh said Egypt is likely to stick to its “risk-averse foreign policy”.

Sayyid said Egyptian officials even seemed to “hesitate to respond” to Israel’s Rafah operation, but said Cairo had “realised a limited response would not satisfy Egyptian public opinion”.

Already, online footage showing Israeli flags on an armoured vehicle just across the Gaza border has stirred widespread anger in Egypt.