Israel's Rafah offensive puts relationship with Egypt at worst since '70s | DW News

Israel's

offensive

in Rafa has put relations with its neighbor Egypt under serious strain. Egypt has cooperated for decades on security along its border with Gaza, but Cairo suspended that cooperation when Israeli troops seized the Gaza side of the Rafa border, the move could cross. They have far-reaching implications for both countries and for the people of Gaza. Israeli soldiers at Rafa, the largest aid crossing into Aaza, now closed. Israel has opened other crossings further north, but this one has special significance. The other side of the Rafa crossing is Egypt, the country shares a 206 km long border with Israel, but it is the 12 km where Egypt borders Gaza that is now in dispute for decades.

Israel has relied on Egypt to help implement security agreements in Gaza, as well as for the delivery of food and other necessities. Cooperation dates back to the Camp David Accords, which came after years of conflict, including three wars. The signing of the Agreements was an important strategic step that changed the dynamics in the region. Egypt's significant military was no longer a threat, but it also resulted in a change in US policy. Egypt became a major recipient of American foreign aid, but Israel's cooperation with its closest partner in the Middle East has ended for now. Egypt says the IDF's seizure of the Gaza side of the Raa crossing violates treaties that say the area must be demilitarized, plus Egypt has now announced it will join South Africa's case against Israel for genocide in international court. of justice, increasing Israel's international isolation.

American media has also reported that Egypt may downgrade its diplomatic relations with Israel, however, Egypt cannot afford to distance itself from the US and is also concerned about a possible Palestinian exodus to Egypt itself, so There are reasons to resume cooperation with Israel at some point in the future. Middle East analyst J Shani Rosanis can tell us more welcome to Shanie, so we now have relations between Israel and Egypt at their most tense since the Camp. The David Accords were signed and despite this, Israel decided to continue its operation in Rafa, please explain to us why Rafa is so important to them.

Well, for Israel, Rafa is basically the last stronghold of Kamas that, for Nan, it has built in the last few months. Rafa. It is the only thing that prevents Israel from achieving victory and the total elimination of Hamas, so it needs to do it because of its political position, but also technically the crossing at Rafa has been the main escape for Hamas, uh, you know, that was the place where they got more. of its supply from Egypt is also what caused a lot of tensions once on October 7, you know, the catastrophe has revealed itself and Israel slowly realized how many weapons Hamas has been holding, you know, they have been gathering through the RAF crossing and starting It takes a bit more before Israel became more confident in the Egyptian handling of that border and suspicions have built up since then so Rafa um is just the point where it all comes down to which is now the main crossing point for aid, but it's also been uh For many years, the crossing point for other goods that weren't necessarily what Israel wanted to see coming into the Gaza Strip okay, so Israel comes in in Rafa even though the United States, the United Nations, the United Kingdom and many of their allies say no.

Don't do this, what happens after Rafa, well that's the million dollar question, it's always there, you know, we've been having this question on our minds, you know, when it comes to Gaza and what's happening, you know what it is Israel's plan for the day after. There are so many aspects and we have seen that we are seeing very few answers, technically, on how to deal with the crossing and the transfer of goods between Gaza and Egypt. Israel is planning to have other neutral forces, not the Palestinian Authority, which Actually, we know we refuse to do that as long as Israel is in control of Gaza, but rather a private company that takes care of that, but there are also many legal elements related to that, if that company is foreign.

What does nationality do when you know something is happening at the border? Is Israel shooting British or Americans or will whoever you know maintain that? What would that mean? So Israel doesn't really have a very good concrete plan for the day. later and this is partly why we are seeing this pressure on the Americans, they say we don't see where this is going, we don't see what the end game is and we are trying to you know, lead Israel. far from it, but so far I haven't had much luck, okay, so tell us about the change of direction, tell us about the aid flows into Gaza at the moment, well, you know that's always been an issue and you know that blocking the RAF crossing, which is the The Egyptians have basically decided that they do not want to cooperate with Israel once Israel took over the Palestinian side of the border because of the symbolism of Israel taking over this part of the land and somehow take over Gaza and the fear that they may appear complicit. with Israel taking that part, but we also know that the economy, the money that Crossing has been generating for Gaza was quite large, especially knowing that the Suat canal trade has been cut off due to the Houthi threat. and so on, Egypt has taken a very heavy toll on their income in recent months and in a way is trying to get Rafa to help do that, the problem now is that as long as there is no uh Crossing from Egypt, many of the Goods that were sent to Gaza were going to Elish to Egyptian ports and now they have no way to enter Gaza and this is part of the leverage that Egypt is trying to use against Israeli journalist Kareem El. guari has been following this story for us , joins us now from Cairo.

Kareem, both Israel and Egypt blame each other for blocking aid from entering Gaza, which actually prevents aid from coming through the Rafa crossing in the first place, the other side is an active combat zone in this moment with the Israeli army on the ground fighting. No one of your same opinion will drive a truck to this area right now. The second reason is, of course, that both remained closed and there is right now, as you mentioned in According to the report, the Egyptians suspended security cooperation with the Israeli army in the immediate border area and that is another reason as long as there is no coordination to that this aid returns to the Gaza Strip, which of course is important for the entire South Garden strip, the border that was opened. for Israel is in the north, very far from this area, which is a big problem for them in Rafa and also in the central Gaza area now that Israel has taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafa Kareim crossing why Is that a problem for Egypt, well, Egypt, war, Israel, for weeks now, to not make a raid on Rafa, they begged the Americans to make sure this is not happening now that it is happening.

Egypt is reacting to this, stopping security cooperation, uh, and also wants to join the South's case. Africa uh in the international court of justice where Israel is accused of committing genocide and now there is talk of degrading relations, maybe there is talk of removing the Egyptian ambassador from Israel um the Egyptians also mainly argue that this raid on The entry to Rafa and the seizure of the border crossing violates the existing contracts between both parties, the existing treaties between both parties where it is stated that this area should be a demilitarized area where heavy weapons are not allowed, so that is the official reason why Egypt is I am very angry and reacting so decisively to this new incursion and the seizure of the Fara water post.

More on this from DW's special correspondent. Ibrahim in Jerusalem. Welcome Aya. Let's start with Israel's

offensive

in Gaza. How deep is the Israeli army in Rafa? We are hearing from witnesses that the Israelis are deepening into the southernmost part of the strip. Rafa is now approaching the east side of Rafa and we are told there are around 450,000, so almost half a million people are on the move. uh, to try to escape, uh, uh, this, um, this raid on Rafah, so to speak, but, of course, there are a lot of difficulties there, uh, we're talking about people trying to move, probably not the first time since that the war began, after 7 months. uh from constant shelling, they may not have the equipment, they may not have the means to get to safety and at the same time the IDF said last night that they are attacking Gaza from the south, the north and the center , so for many of these civilians trying to escape it is difficult to know where to go even with the so-called safe zone that Israel has outlined for them well.

Meanwhile the US and the United Nations have been pressuring Israel to reopen the Rafa border crossing for aid deliveries, why has there been so little progress there? That's not clear, although yesterday we heard a statement from the Israeli Foreign Minister saying that the opening of the RAF crossing is now in the hands of uh Egypt and this uh state has caused something of a dispute now between Egypt and Israel Egypt , of course, it's the country with the longest peace treaty with Israel among its Arab neighbors uh and the Egyptians say well, it's the Israelis who have Now, you know, it's occupied, so to speak, the Palestinian side of the crossing which, according to some experts, actually violates the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, so there seems to be a bit of confusion and perhaps even a deflection of Israel's responsibility there.

With that statement, but it is not clear why that opening is not open, it is still something that many in the international community would like to see as hunger and desperation spread within the Gaza Strip. Well, thanks for that, DW special correspondent Aya Ibrahim in Jerusalem.