Those recent claims, Rashwan said, allege that there are smuggling of weapons, explosives, ammunition, and components into the Gaza Strip from Egyptian territory through various means, including tunnels.

“These false allegations do not serve the [Egyptian-Israeli] peace treaty respected by Egypt,” he said.

Rashwan called on the Israeli side to show respect for the treaty and to refrain from making statements that that would strain bilateral relations in light of the current inflammatory conditions

Egypt will continue its natural positive role to solve all the problems of the region, and these false allegations will not succeed in dissuading Egypt from carrying out its internal, regional, and international responsibilities, he said.

‘Complete control’ over borders
 

Over the past decade, Egypt has dedicated substantial efforts to ensuring security and stability in the Sinai region and fortifying the Egypt-Gaza border.

“Egypt faced significant challenges posed by tunnels used for smuggling fighters and weapons during the intense confrontations with terrorist groups in Sinai from June 2013 to 2020,” he said, referring to the war against terrorism in Sinai following the overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohamed Morsi.

He explained how Egypt secured the borders and tackled the tunnels.

“This included establishing a five-kilometre buffer zone from Rafah to the Gaza border and demolishing over 1,500 tunnels. Furthermore, Egypt enhanced the border wall with the sector, stretching it to 14 kilometres and reinforcing it with a six-metre-high concrete wall above ground and six metres below,” Rashwan recounted.

He also pointed to the construction of three barriers between Sinai and Palestinian Rafah that made smuggling impossible, whether above or below ground.

“Egypt, maintaining full sovereignty over its land, exercises complete control over its entire northeastern borders, including those with the Gaza Strip and Israel,” he said

Any claim that smuggling operations occur through trucks carrying aid and goods to the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing is baseless and ludicrous, he said.

“Any truck entering the sector through this crossing must first pass through the Karm Abu Salem crossing, under Israeli authorities' inspection, which examines all trucks entering the sector,” Rashwan said.

He added that the recipients of this aid are the Palestinian Red Crescent and UN relief organizations such as UNRWA, providing another piece of evidence for the falsehood of Israeli claims.

Israel’s false claims are meant to justify its continued collective punishment, killing, and starvation of over two million Palestinians inside the Gaza Strip, a practice it has carried out for 17 years, Rashwan said.

“Israel's insistence on promoting these lies is an attempt to legitimize its reoccupation of the Philadelphi Corridor or the Salah Al-Din Corridor in the Gaza Strip along the border with Egypt, in violation of agreements and security protocols signed between Israel and Egypt,” he said.

The reoccupation of this corridor by Israel would pose a grave threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations, he added.

“Egypt, respecting its international commitments, can defend its interests, sovereignty over its land and borders, and will not jeopardize them in the hands of a group of extremist Israeli leaders seeking to drag the region into conflict and instability,” the chairman of the SIS said.

This aligns with Egypt's steadfast refusal to allow the forcible or voluntary displacement of Palestinians to Sinai.

 “Egypt took the initiative and agreed with Israel in 2005 and 2021 to increase the size of border guard forces and capabilities in this border area to secure the strategic northeastern direction, in adherence to the peace treaty with Israel, preventing any unilateral steps from the latter,” he elaborated.

‘Real culprits’
 

Despite having the latest and best monitoring technology and controlling Gaza from three sides, Rashwan pointed out that Israel insists on lobbing unsupported accusations at Egypt.

Rashwan called for the Israeli government to seriously investigate its own army, state apparatus, and society to identify the real culprits involved in smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip, including those motivated by profit.

“Many weapons currently present in the sector result from smuggling from within Israel, such as M16 rifles and types of RPGs, in addition to dual-use materials for military manufacturing in the sector,” he said.

There have been many reports by Israeli media documenting how weapons from the army go missing or are sold in the West Bank, some of which end up in Gaza.

Rashwan challenged Israeli officials to explain the source of large quantities of weapons, ammunition, and explosives in the West Bank, which is ostensibly under full Israeli control and does not share a border with Egypt.

The Israeli statements, he explained, also ignore their army’s findings during the ongoing war, which reveal that a large share of Hamas and Palestinian factions' armament is locally manufactured rather than obtained through smuggling.

Shifting the blame
 

Rashwan said that Israel is attempting to shift the blame for its failure to achieve its declared goals in its war on Gaza.

“It is looking for someone responsible outside of it for these failures, as it also did the same thing recently by accusing Egypt in the International Court of Justice of being the one preventing and obstructing humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip, despite its full knowledge that Egypt did not close the Rafah crossing on its part, even for a single moment,” he said.

The chairman of the SIS said that the arbitrary policies of successive Israeli governments have eliminated any prospects for a peaceful solution and encouraged division among Palestinians.

“These policies, for more than a decade and a half, are part of Netanyahu's strategy to deepen the Palestinian division and ensure the separation of Gaza from the West Bank to weaken the Palestinian Authority, and to have the justification to refuse to enter into any negotiations on a two-state solution,” he added.

Solidarity, border security go hand-in-hand
 

Rashwan reasserted the Egyptian people’s full support and solidarity with the Palestinian cause is steadfast.

Egypt’s official position is to support the rights of the Palestinian people in an independent state on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

However, he also pointed out that this popular and official solidarity does not conflict with the need to secure the country’s borders and prevent smuggling.