2024-02-10T18:03:35+00:00
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/ The New York Times reported on Saturday that Cairo “threatened” to effectively suspend the 1979 peace treaty with Israel after the latter’s intention to storm Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and force the residents of the Strip to flee to Sinai, while indicating that Cairo does not rule out “militarizing the borders.”
The newspaper quoted a senior Western diplomat in Cairo as saying that Egyptian officials urged their Western counterparts to inform Israel that they consider any move to force Gazans to cross into Sinai a violation that would effectively suspend the 1979 peace treaty.
Another senior Western official, an American official and an Israeli official said the message was more direct, with Egypt threatening to suspend the treaty if the Israeli army pushed Gazans into Egypt, the newspaper reported.
The Israeli official said the Egyptian government repeated this warning to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday.
The American official said that Egypt had made it clear that it was prepared to militarize its borders, perhaps with tanks, if the Palestinians began to be pushed into Sinai.
The Israeli official said that military officers from both countries, who have a long-standing relationship of trust resulting from security cooperation around the border, are also speaking privately about a possible Israeli incursion into Rafah.
He added that in those discussions, the Egyptians asked Israel to limit the scope of the operation.
Egyptian military movements near Rafah
Two Egyptian security sources said Cairo had sent about 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers to northeastern Sinai in the past two weeks as part of a series of measures to bolster security on its border with the Gaza Strip.
The forces are being deployed before Israel expands its military operations to include the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, to which most of the Strip’s residents have fled in search of a safe haven, exacerbating Egypt’s fears that Palestinians could be forced to leave the Strip en masse.
Israeli warplanes bombed Rafah on Friday, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to prepare to evacuate the displaced.
Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, Egypt has built a concrete border wall with foundations extending 6 metres into the ground and topped with barbed wire.
The two security sources said that Egypt also erected sand barriers and strengthened surveillance at border checkpoints, according to Reuters.