Egypt’s Gaza Dilemma

Excerpt

Egypt has denied requests to solve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and take in refugees. Several countries have offered cash incentives to Cairo in the hopes it reconsiders, but Cairo has rebuffed them. It has also denied that there is smuggling between Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula. Denial, as they say, is a river in Egypt.

As the war to eliminate Hamas drags on, and with continued American pressure to address the humanitarian situation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes to get Egyptian strongman Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to take in Gaza refugees. Sisi has so far emphatically refused Bibi’s request. The Egyptians have stated repeatedly that they will not take part in the displacement of Gazans. They say this is a red line for the Palestinian cause.

Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Follow him on X @JSchanzer.