File Photo: Egyptian army soldiers guard their side of the Rafah crossing, closed since early May, on July 4, 2024. AFP
The reports by Israeli media suggesting that Egypt has agreed to the continued presence of Israeli forces at the Philadelphi axis are false in form and substance, the source added to Al-Qahera News.
The statements by the Egyptian high-level source come as Egypt, Qatar, and the US intensify mediation efforts - in Doha and Cairo - between Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire in the 10-month-old Gaza war.
In early May, Israel launched a ground assault on the Palestinian city of Rafah in southern Gaza, occupying the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
Soon after, the Israeli army occupied the 14-kilometre Philadelphi axis along the Egypt-Gaza border.
Since then, Egypt has repeatedly called on Israel to end its military offensive against Rafah in southern Gaza and withdraw its troops from the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the strip.
Egypt has also rejected all Israeli proposals for Egyptian-Israeli coordination over the Rafah crossing, insisting that the crossing between Egypt and the strip must be run by Egyptian and Palestinian authorities.
Cairo has called on Israel to open Rafah and all crossings to the entry of humanitarian aid to the strip amid worsening famine conditions in the strip.
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