February 14, 2024 Egypt on edge as Israel's war presses more than a million Palestinians up against its border Nadeen Ebrahim and Sarah El Sirgany | |
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Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, gather as they seek shelter at the border with Egypt, in Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip on January 7. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters) |
Egypt is boosting its security presence at its border with the Gaza Strip, wary of a spillover of Israel's war on Hamas onto its territory should the Israeli military begin its ground assault on the enclave's southernmost city, Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population is sheltering just steps away from the frontier. The fortification by the border with Gaza is a "precautionary" measure ahead of an expected Israeli ground operation in Rafah, Egyptian security officials told CNN. As part of its security buildup, the officials said, Egypt has deployed more troops and machinery in North Sinai, bordering Gaza. Israel's military campaign in Gaza may be putting its almost half-a-century-old ties with a key Arab partner at risk. Egypt has already condemned Israel's move to push Palestinians southward in the enclave, suggesting it is part of a plan to expel Gazans and that it would spell the end of the Palestinian cause. Now, Egypt is sounding alarms again as Israel pushes more than a million Palestinians toward its territory and prepares for a military operation in Rafah. Checkpoints leading to the Rafah border crossing on the Egyptian side were boosted with more soldiers and the areas around the main road were being prepared for the deployment of tanks and military machinery, an eyewitness told CNN. Egyptian military helicopters were also seen flying on the Egyptian side this week, according to an eyewitness in Egypt and social media videos shot from the Gaza side of the border. Officials in both countries rarely criticize one another in public, but Egypt's foreign ministry spokesperson on Monday lambasted comments by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said Cairo bears considerable responsibility for the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and led to the abduction of more than 250 people. Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza has led to the death of more than 28,000 there, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. It is "unfortunate and disgraceful" that Smotrich "continues to make irresponsible and inflammatory statements, which only reveal a hunger for killing and destruction," the Egyptian spokesperson said on X, formerly Twitter. Egypt was the first Arab nation to recognize Israel in 1979 . The two signed a landmark pact that saw Israel return the Sinai Peninsula it captured from Egypt in the 1967 war in exchange for peace. The treaty also limited the number of troops stationed on the border between Egypt and Gaza, which at the time was controlled by Israel. The treaty turned Egypt into a pariah in the Arab world but decades later helped pave the way for other Arab nations to sign similar agreements with Israel. Western media outlets, including the Associated Press and The New York Times, have reported that Egypt has threatened to void the peace treaty if Israeli troops invaded Rafah. Egypt's foreign minister dismissed those reports, but said in a news conference Monday that Cairo would adhere to the treaty "as long as it remains reciprocal," the state-run Ahram newspaper reported. An Israeli official acknowledged that the Egyptians have been concerned with Israel's operation, but said they are not aware of a specific threat with regard to the treaty. "There is a collaboration between Israeli and Egyptian security forces. Always has been and always will be," the Israeli official told CNN. Emad Gad, an advisor at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies and a former member of Egypt's parliament, said that Egypt suspending the treaty is "totally unrealistic." The move, he told CNN, would have consequences with the United States, including on the significant financial and military aid Egypt receives from Washington. "The present crisis presents potential dangers not seen in previous incidents," said Ofir Winter, senior researcher at Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv and lecturer at the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Tel Aviv University. While Egypt and Israel have had rough patches since the treaty was signed, Winter told CNN, this is the worst period in Israeli-Egyptian ties since decade-long ruler Abdel Fattah el-Sisi came to power. Israel has been under pressure from the international community to refrain from launching a ground operation in Rafah, which has for weeks been under Israeli aerial bombardment . The city is the last major refuge for Palestinians fleeing the north and center of Gaza. | Egyptian army soldiers look on from behind the barbed-wire border fence as Palestinian workers unload crates of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom (Karm Abu Salem) border crossing in the southern part of the enclave on January 29. (Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images) |
After numerous Israeli calls to evacuate other areas of the strip, more than 1.3 million people are now crammed into a sprawling tent city in Rafah. Families struggling with shortages of food, water and medicine are living in tents just meters from the barbed-wire fence separating them from Egypt. Several Israeli cabinet ministers, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Smotrich, have publicly called for the resettlement of Gaza by Jews after the war. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the idea of reestablishing settlements in Gaza, he has said that Israel will keep "full security control." Refugee spillover The Egyptian foreign ministry warned Sunday of the "grave consequences" of an Israeli military operation in Rafah, calling on Israel to refrain from "taking measures that would further complicate the situation and would harm the interests of everyone involved without exception." For Egypt, the prospect of millions of Palestinians pouring into the country brings memories of the 2008 border crisis, when hundreds of Gazans stormed into Egypt after the border wall was blown out and torn down. The Palestinians had been running out of fuel, food and other supplies after Israel closed Gaza's border crossings. Egypt has said that since the war began, the Rafah crossing was bombed at least four times on the Palestinian side. In October, Egypt blocked the gates of the crossing with concrete slabs. Egypt's Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Wednesday said that "targeting this area of the strip, which is filled with so many civilians, poses a danger." "This is very different than if these citizens were living in a larger or more spacious area," Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said in an interview with Alghad TV. "We are taking about an area in southern Gaza that used to be inhabited by 300,000 Palestinians," Abu Zeid said, adding that over a million people live there now. Crossing a demilitarized buffer zone The Egyptian official was keen to spell out the dangers of Israel's ground offensive crossing the Philadelphi Corridor – the14-kilometer (about 8.7 mile) long and 100-meter-wide strip of land on the border between Gaza and Egypt. The narrow line is a buffer zone on the Egypt-Gaza border, set in place as part of the 1979 peace treaty. It is part of a larger set of areas that Israel and Egypt agreed to demilitarize. Neither state can increase its military presence there without prior agreement of the other. After Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, it agreed with Egypt on a mechanism to secure the area with only Egyptian border patrol forces on the Egyptian side of the border. Experts say Egypt's recent deployments there could be a violation of that agreement – unless it was done with Israel's tacit approval. In boosting its security presence at the border with Gaza, Egypt says it's acting under the terms of a 2016 agreement with Israel to increase forces in so-called Area C in Sinai, adjacent to the Israeli border, another Egyptian official told CNN. That 2016 agreement came at a time when Egypt was fighting an extremist insurgency. The security buildup on the Egyptian side is technically not in line with both countries' security agreements, but it is likely taking place with Israel's blessing, Gad said. "It seems that this is a step approved by Israel as a way to calm Egyptian fears," Gad said. "Egypt would not deploy (more forces) without Israel's approval." Gad said an Israeli ground campaign in Rafah itself wouldn't constitute a breach of the treaty, but an operation in the Philadelphi Corridor would. Deployment of Israeli troops in the Philadelphi Corridor without prior agreement between both countries would be a breach of the peace treaty, the Egyptian official told CNN, adding that the government had not approved such a deployment. Winter said that if Israel undertakes military operations in Rafah involving more than the four infantry battalions as allowed under the agreement, Egypt may assert a breach of the agreement. It is unclear if Israel and Egypt are speaking about the potential operation in Rafah. While Israeli media has previously reported some level of coordination, Egypt's government-linked Al Qahera News said last month that Egypt had denied reports alleging any security coordination between Israel and Egypt on the Philadelphi Corridor. Gad of the Al-Ahram Center said that there are "undoubtedly and absolutely security talks" between Israel and Egypt, adding that whenever there have been political tensions, the security apparatuses have intervened to calm things down. Such talks, he said, are often denied by officials to appease public opinion. While relations between Israel and Egypt have not been this heated in years, they are mainly focused on "the level of official statements," he said. "On the practical level, on the security and military level, ties are stable." CNN's Lauren Izso contributed to this report. |
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More on the Israel-Hamas war |
- Footage of Sinwar: The Israeli military released a video that purportedly shows the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar inside a tunnel below the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, with his wife, children and his brother Ibrahim Sinwar. Unveiling the video at his daily press conference, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the footage had been captured on a Hamas CCTV camera on October 10 and obtained by the IDF in recent days. CNN cannot independently verify that Sinwar is the man seen in the video, nor when it was recorded, and the IDF did not provide additional evidence to support their claims.
- Iran-bound ship attacked: A Greek-owned commercial vessel targeted by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea on Monday was carrying corn from Brazil to Iran, according to US Central Command and the State Department. This appears to be the first time the Houthis have targeted a ship destined for Iran, which provides backing for the rebel group that controls parts of Yemen. "In this case, it seems Iran's destabilizing activities have imperiled the food security of the Iranian people," a State Department spokesperson said.
- Biden frustrated: US President Joe Biden is growing increasingly frustrated behind the scenes with Benjamin Netanyahu, telling advisers and others that the Israeli prime minister is ignoring his advice and obstructing efforts to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to people familiar with the matter. Biden has stopped short of directly criticizing Netanyahu in public. But he has become increasingly critical of Israel's tactics, saying last week he believes the campaign in Gaza is "over the top."
- Exports stalled: Some European countries say they have stalled arms exports to Israel amid growing consternation about the way it is waging war, while the United States Senate on Tuesday passed a $95 billion foreign aid package that includes further security assistance for the country. A court in the Netherlands on Monday ordered the government to stop exporting fighter jet parts to Israel. The ruling came after the Italian and Spanish foreign ministers said that their countries had stopped all arms sales to Israel. Meanwhile, the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell suggested that the US cut arms supplies to Israel. "If you believe that the death toll is too high, maybe you can do something to make it lower," Borrell said.
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Two months after COP28 was held in Dubai, climate and the energy transition remain a key focus for global leaders attending the World Government Summit in the city. In his first public remarks since the climate summit, COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber says that what was achieved was a paradigm shift. "We believe in the transition, we embrace the transition before anyone else," Al Jaber told CNN's Becky Anderson, noting that "the transition will happen in different places, at different paces." Watch the interview here. |
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| India's Modi to inaugurate Abu Dhabi's first Hindu temple India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the United Arab Emirates to inaugurate a Hindu stone temple, boosting his credentials as a global statesman months before he heads to the polls in a nationwide election in which he is seeking a rare third term in power. The BAPS Hindu Mandir, built on a sprawling 27-acre site in the Abu Dhabi desert, is the city's first traditional Hindu stone mandir, its pink sandstone columns topped by seven spires representing the number of sheikhs that rule each of the Emirates. - Background : The UAE is a country of 9 million people and is home to about 3.5 million Indians, making it the largest population of Indian citizens outside India. In 2015, the UAE government allocated land for the development of the temple in a major win for the diaspora.
- Why it matters : This is the Modi's seventh trip to the Gulf Arab country, and the third in the past eight months. The two countries have seen growing business and economic ties. Analysts say that back home, Modi's leading role in the temple's inauguration could give his party a boost in the buildup to the election.
Turkey's Erdogan makes first visit to Egypt since 2012 Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his first visit to Egypt since 2012 on Wednesday, and met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The two leaders were to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, according to a spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency, including efforts to broker a ceasefire and the provision of humanitarian aid to the enclave. - Background : Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Egypt broke down in July 2013 after the Egyptian military ousted President Mohamed Morsy and his government. Morsy, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, had close ties with Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP).
- Why it matters : Erdogan is making his trip to Cairo amid escalating regional tensions, fueled by Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza and the humanitarian repercussions that have followed. A staunch supporter of Palestinians yet a key trade partner with Israel, Erdogan may try to help push the Israeli government to accept a ceasefire.
Italy donates 3D-printed replica of statue destroyed by ISIS to Iraq Italy has donated a reconstructed Assyrian statue to Iraq in a gesture former culture minister Francesco Rutelli described as a "miracle" of Italian cultural diplomacy. Constructed in the ninth century BC, the 5-meter-tall (16-foot) "Bull of Nimrud" was destroyed by ISIS fighters in 2015, before Italian artisans made a copy of the monument using 3D-printing technology. The replica, which was previously displayed at the Colosseum in Rome and the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, has now been permanently relocated outside the entrance to the Basrah Museum in the Iraqi city of Basra. - Background : The ancient city of Nimrud, near modern-day Mosul, was the capital of Ashurnasirpal II, the Assyrian king who constructed an enormous palace in the city decorated with bas reliefs and numerous "lamassu" (lion and winged-bull statues with bearded human heads). ISIS stormed the archaeological site in 2015 and destroyed precious artifacts with bulldozers and explosives. The "Bull of Nimrud," which stood at the site and is a symbol of the Assyrian civilization, was among the destroyed monuments.
- Why it matters: The bull's return to Iraq follows a high-profile restitution to the country in June, when Italy handed a tablet engraved with cuneiform text and the insignia of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, Ashurnasirpal II's successor, to Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid during his state visit to the country. The circumstances surrounding the tablet's arrival in Italy remain unclear.
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