A diplomatic crisis is escalating between Cairo and Jerusalem, with tensions rising over disagreements on several key issues. So informed diplomatic sources said i24NEWS that the United States pressured Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi not to recall Israel’s ambassador to Cairo.
The Egyptian leader expressed his “total distrust and disappointment” in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Israeli sources. The tension comes as regional partners, including Egypt and Gulf countries, have urged Jerusalem to offer a framework for a lasting diplomatic solution to Gaza after the conflict. However, these calls have so far been ignored by Israel, much to the frustration of countries in the region.
The deterioration in relations is also reflected in calls by some Israeli politicians to move large numbers of Palestinian refugees from Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula. At the same time, the Israeli military is intensifying its operations against Hamas as it seeks to control a buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border known as the Philadelphia Corridor. Israeli security experts believe that many of the munitions, mortars and rockets used by Hamas in the October 7 attack passed through underground tunnels in this corridor.
In a press conference last week, Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Hamas continues to smuggle weapons across the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, raising security concerns in the region and heightening current diplomatic tensions.
