The rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a complete blockade and sustained airstrikes by the Israeli army since Monday, is causing growing concern in Egypt. The Arab country is the only country other than Israel that borders the Gaza Strip and fears there will be a large displacement of people towards its territory if the situation worsens further or an Israeli ground invasion is launched. In this context, calls have been increasing in recent days for the opening of a corridor for sending humanitarian aid to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, the only one connecting the Strip with Egypt.
Cairo, which supports the plan, announced on Thursday that it would allow Al Arish airport, 50 kilometers from Rafah, to receive international humanitarian aid to Gaza. Shortly afterwards, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry announced the first delivery of humanitarian and medical aid to the Egyptian airport. In order for the deliveries to reach Gaza, at least a geographically limited ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is first necessary, which Egypt is currently negotiating with the USA, Qatar and Turkey, Egyptian security sources assured Portal.
After six days of bombardment and four days of siege by Israel, entire neighborhoods and basic infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, where they had been blockaded since 2007, were razed to the ground in response to the incursion into Israeli territory by the Palestinian group Hamas’s armed wing on Saturday. of two million people. Food and water are also quickly running out and the only power plant stopped operating on Wednesday due to a lack of fuel. The UN Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) estimates that there are already at least 340,000 displaced people and the few shelters in the Gaza Strip are overcrowded.
According to local media and organizations as well as the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Rafah border crossing has been closed indefinitely to the movement of people and goods since Tuesday. The crossing was closed after the Palestinian side of the crossing was bombed three times by the Israeli army in less than 24 hours and Israel failed to provide security guarantees for humanitarian aid convoys. However, Egypt assures that the Rafah border crossing has never been closed, but admits that the destruction of facilities on the Palestinian side has prevented normal operations. According to OCHA, the border crossing remained open for passenger traffic on Monday and 800 people managed to leave the Gaza Strip and another 500 were able to enter the Gaza Strip.
In parallel with the negotiations on a humanitarian corridor, Washington has assured that it is discussing with Israel and Egypt the opening of a safe passage to allow civilians to leave Gaza, presumably towards Egypt. However, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged on Wednesday that it was an “understandably complicated” matter, a day after the country’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said it was a plan to That same Tuesday, an Israeli lieutenant colonel advised civilians in the Gaza Strip to leave the Gaza Strip via Rafah, although the army withdrew the recommendation shortly afterwards.
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Egypt, for its part, has publicly spoken out against opening safe passages to Sinai. In statements reported by local media, the country’s President, Abdel Fattá Al Sisi, has assured that Cairo will not allow the Palestinian issue to be resolved at the expense of others, that it will not neglect national security under any circumstances and that also be the case He will not deviate from his position on the establishment of a Palestinian state. Shortly after his message was spread, Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, Amira Oron, stated that her country “has no intentions in Sinai” and “has not asked the Palestinians to move there.” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric emphasized on Wednesday that the focus must be on “protecting the civilian population” and that they do not want a “mass exodus of Gaza residents”.
Cairo has traditionally refused to accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza so as not to undermine its chances of establishing a state and because it indicates that Israel, as an occupying power, is responsible for the basic needs of the Gaza population. “Relocating the population from Gaza to Sinai has been a red line for Cairo in the past,” notes Mohannad Sabry, a security expert in the Sinai Peninsula. “Allowing the migration of Gaza citizens to Egypt does not just mean [un golpe a] “The Palestinian cause will be strengthened by a greater displacement of the population,” he adds, “but it would also mean partially fulfilling a strategic objective of the Israeli army, which sees the population of the Gaza Strip as an obstacle in the fight against the armed groups of Hamas and other factions. Palestinians.”
Nest of insecurity
Although the Egyptian military has largely consolidated its control over the past three years, historically marginalized North Sinai has been a hotbed of insecurity and a war zone between the state and the local branch of the Islamic State since 2011. The relationship between Cairo and Hamas is also complicated by the Palestinian militia’s proximity to the Muslim Brotherhood organization, which is banned in Egypt.
Added to this, Egypt is currently experiencing a severe economic crisis, has welcomed more than 300,000 refugees from Sudan since April and is just two months away from holding presidential elections to revive Al Sisi amid growing social exhaustion. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry warned on Wednesday during a visit to his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani that instability and the expansion of the conflict in Gaza could lead to more refugees, including to Europe.
A man drives through the rubble caused by an Israeli bombing in Rafah in the Gaza Strip this Thursday.SAID KHATIB (AFP)
Despite its rejection of the idea, the North Sinai governorate convened its crisis cabinet on Sunday to address the situation in Gaza, particularly instructing health, utilities, education and housing administrations to prepare for an eventual crisis , take stock of their capabilities and identify refuges. Vacations and breaks for workers in the region’s medical sector have also been suspended.
In the event that there are finally Palestinians entering Egypt, the authorities plan to welcome them in the first two cities after Gaza, Rafah and Sheikh Zuwayed, a maximum of 14 kilometers from the Gaza Strip and without reaching the capital, according to Official sources told Al Arish to Egyptian media Mada Masr. However, Egypt has not yet started mobilizing. “There is no evidence on the ground that serious preparations are being made for the arrival of refugees from Gaza, and this is also the public position of the Egyptian government,” said Ahmed Salem, director of the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights. However, Salem points out that they have discovered military reinforcements near the border: “Since the start of the war, the Egyptian army has set up six new checkpoints in Rafah and Sheikh Zuwayed and is sending troops daily to inspect the border area.” .”
In early 2008, after the first six months of a crushing siege on the Gaza Strip, Hamas forces tore down a wall built by Israel on the border with Egypt and hundreds of thousands of people entered Sinai, mostly to buy all kinds of basic foodstuffs. On this occasion, the Egyptian security cordon was lifted in front of the Suez Canal, which separates Sinai from the rest of Egypt, and the incident lasted about ten days.
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