Israel and Egypt relations strained over border control
Israel’s relations with Cairo could face a crisis if it proceeds with its goal of controlling the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, analysts say.
Relations between the neighbours, who signed a peace treaty in 1979 after several wars, soured after the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war on Egypt’s doorstep in October.
Israel ignored calls for a ceasefire by Egypt and other Arab countries, continuing with its devastating military offensive despite a mounting civilian death toll.
But recent assertions by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel must control Gaza’s border with Egypt threaten to further strain relations.
“Things have been very tense, but there are limits to how far these tensions can go on a strategic level,” said Michael Hanna, a senior Middle East expert with the International Crisis Group.
“The treaty will stay but the quality of relations will suffer,” he told The National.
“Deploying Israeli troops on the Gaza side of the border represents a big shift in the status quo and will have longterm repercussions.”
On Saturday, Mr Netanyahu said that a decision had yet to be made about a potential military takeover of the “Philadelphia Corridor”, the stretch of land that runs along the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt.
He said that sealing off the zone to isolate Hamas was one of Israel’s aims for the war in Gaza, and that “there are a number of options” for how it could do so, including moving troops into the corridor.
“We have looked into these and have yet to make a decision,” Mr Netanyahu added.
Egyptian security officials earlier this month said Cairo rejected Israel’s suggested plan to install surveillance cameras and sensors on the Gaza side of the border.
Since the start of the war, Egypt has built a concrete wall along the 13km length of the border with Gaza.
Egypt, which administered Gaza between 1948 and 1967, has tightly controlled its border with Gaza, where the militant Hamas group has ruled since 2007.
It accuses Hamas of taking advantage of the chaos in Egypt during a 2011 popular uprising and sending an armed group that freed leaders of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood from Egyptian prisons.
But Egypt has developed a good working relationship with Hamas and mediated several truces to end its wars with Israel.
“Egypt exercises full control of its border (with Gaza),” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in response to Mr Netanyahu’s comments.
“These matters are subject to security and international agreements between the concerned states.”
Pro-government commentators have been less cautious. One claims that Mr Netanyahu’s sole aim was to prolong the Gaza war.
This was to stave off the day when he and his right-wing government will have to account for the security and intelligence lapses that allowed Hamas to rampage in southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 and taking about 240 hostages back to the territory.
“If the war ends tomorrow, Netanyahu will lose his job … and will be in jail a week later on corruption charges,” said Sameer Farag, a retired army general.
“We have destroyed 194 tunnels [between Egypt and Gaza] because that served our national security,” he said, alluding to action by the military several years ago to stop large-scale smuggling operations overseen by Hamas.
Relations between Egypt and Israel have been strained during various flashpoints, such as Israel’s 1981 bombing of Iraq’s under-construction nuclear reactor or the invasion of Lebanon the following year.
The war in Gaza, however, has introduced a new level of deep and dangerous tension that will be difficult to defuse. The tension has been fuelled by right-wing Israeli politicians.
They suggest that Gaza’s 2.3 million residents should be pushed out of the territory and into Egypt’s Sinai.
It is a suggestion that drew an angry response from President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, who contends that such a development would “liquidate” the Palestinian issue and violate Egyptian sovereignty.
The two countries have also publicly argued over the speed with which humanitarian aid is being sent from Egypt to Gaza.
A humanitarian crisis has been sparked by Israel’s bombardment of the enclave and the displacement of more than 80 per cent of its residents.