Egyptian role in the Israeli-Palestinian war

Introduction
On 7 October 2023, the Palestinian armed group Hamas launched a shocking and unprecedented attack on Israel. In response, Israel initiated a brutal invasion of the Hamas-administered Gaza Strip. After fifteen months of intense fighting, Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire agreement on 19 January 2025 to end the war. During the war, at least 62,614 Palestinians and at least 1,975 Israelis have been killed. The war exacerbated existing tensions throughout the Middle East. Among the Middle Eastern states, Egypt is one of the very few who maintains ties with both Hamas and Israel. Owing to geographic proximity, military-strategic calculations, internal political considerations, and the fear of potential influx of Palestinian refugees from Gaza, Egypt has played an important role in the Israeli-Palestinian War.

Background
Egypt is the only country in the world that is located in both Africa and Asia. The Egyptian mainland is located on the African continent, while the large Sinai Peninsula is located in Asia. It shares land border with Libya, Sudan, Israel, and Gaza.

In the 20^th century, Egypt was locked into an intense geopolitical rivalry with Israel for decades. Egypt strongly opposed the expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland in 1948, and it has expressed consistent support for Palestinian self-determination. In 1948, when Israel was established, Egypt participated in the Arab coalition that sought to crush Israel, but the coalition failed. Israel occupied more land than it was accorded to by the United Nations (UN), while Egypt gained control over the Gaza Strip. In 1956, when Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, and Britain and France invaded Egypt in response, Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula, but later Britain, France, and Israel had to withdraw from Egyptian territory under international pressure. In 1967, Israel crushed Egypt in the Six-Day War, and occupied both Sinai and Gaza. In 1973, Egypt waged another war against Israel to regain Sinai, but failed.

Afterwards, Egypt agreed to normalize relations with Israel to recover Sinai. With the help of mediation from the United States (US), Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords in 1978 and the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty in 1979. In 1980, full diplomatic relations between the erstwhile rivals were established, and thus, Egypt became the first Arab state to recognize Israel. On its part, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt by 1989. Still, the current relations between Egypt and Israel are known as ‘Cold Peace.’

However, even after the Camp David Accords, most Egyptians continued to oppose Israeli-Egyptian normalization. Moreover, Egypt was one of the first countries to support the Palestinian Declaration of Independence on 15 November 1988.

In the Israeli-Palestinian War
From the very beginning, the Israeli–Palestinian War posed several grave challenges to Egypt. First, Cairo was afraid that the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip would push hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees into the Sinai Peninsula, compromising Egypt’s security and crippling its already ailing economy in the process. Second, the Israeli occupation of Rafah and the Philadelphi Corrido, coupled with the rhetoric of Israeli ultranationalists, posed a potential threat to Egypt’s security and territorial integrity. Third, as the Houthis started attacking ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinians, maritime traffic through the Suez Canal was affected, slashing Egypt’s income. Finally, the Egyptian government feared that a prolonged war along its borders would contribute to further radicalization inside Egypt and cause domestic unrest.

Accordingly, Egypt charted a careful path in navigating the crisis. On the one hand, in spite of repeated Israeli provocations, including the occupation of the Philadelphi Corridor in violation of the Camp David Accords, and the killing of an Egyptian serviceman in May 2024, Egypt did not intervene in the war. On the other hand, Egypt, unlike Israel’s Western partners, refused to condemn the Hamas-led attack on Israel. From the onset of this brutal war, Egypt played an important role in providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza. Throughout the war, Egypt provided substantial amount of food, water, medical supplies, and other aid to Gaza. Even then, thousands of Egyptians expressed solidarity with the Palestinians, while the media started criticizing the Egyptian government for not doing enough to stop the genocide in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Egypt viewed the Israeli occupation of Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor as a serious threat to its national security, and worked hard to engineer the removal of Israeli troops from the areas. In response to Israeli actions, Egypt condemned the Israeli occupation of Rafah, and supported the South African-initiated genocide case against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Moreover, Egypt refused to condone any permanent stationing of Israeli troops at the Philadelphi Corridor, and started militarizing central Sinai to counter potential Israeli military threats.

From the very beginning, Egypt, along with Qatar, played a key role in mediating between Israel and Hamas, and served as a venue for negotiations between Israeli and Hamas leaders. Egypt undertook painstaking efforts to ensure a ceasefire in Gaza, and the General Intelligence Service (GIS), the primary Egyptian intelligence agency, played a crucial role in the negotiations. Ultimately, a joint US-Qatari-Egyptian initiative succeeded in enforcing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on 19 January.

Recently, US President Donald Trump spelled out proposal about the relocation of the Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan. Egypt rejected the proposal outright, with the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty stating at a news conference that Egypt has a clear vision for rebuilding the Gaza Strip without any citizens leaving their land. After the ceasefire, Egypt has held intensive consultations with other Arab states, and the discussion centered on development of the Palestinian territories, reaffirming the Arab position rejecting any measures aimed at displacing the Palestinians from their land.

Thus, Egypt has undertaken a number of diplomatic, military-strategic and humanitarian measures to deal with the catastrophic war in its immediate neighbourhood.

Conclusion
From providing aid and demonstrating solidarity to becoming a key mediator, Egypt has played a crucial role during the Israeli-Palestinian War. Taking into account the military-strategic, political, and ethnographic significance of the Gaza Strip for Egypt, Cairo is highly likely to continue taking great interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

[Tasnim Jahan Saborno is an undergraduate student at the Department of International Relations, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and an independent analyst on international politics. Her research interests include geopolitics, international history, foreign policy analysis, and regional studies.]