Egypt hosted negotiators from Israel and Hamas this week to discuss the release of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel as part of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in the Strip.
Most political analysts would agree that since the war broke out in Gaza, Egypt has always been the first to exert regional, international, Arab, and Islamic efforts to stem the bloodshed of the Palestinians in the Strip, which has been under siege for two years.
Egypt has also exerted pressure and drawn a red line to prevent the displacement of the Palestinians from their land.
In a speech at the White House on 29 September, Trump thanked the Egyptian leadership for these efforts, and in previous comments he emphasised that President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi had contributed significantly to reaching a plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip.
Since the first hours of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023 and the outbreak of the escalation between the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and the Israeli army, President Al-Sisi has directed Egypt’s Foreign Ministry to intensify its contacts with all the relevant parties to limit the conflict and prevent it from spinning out of control to convulse the region.
According to political analyst Yasser Abdel-Aziz, Egypt’s intervention from the first moments of the conflict has not been limited to saving Gaza from devastation but has also aimed to protect its national security from the repercussions of the armed conflict.
By virtue of its proximity and history, and as the most prominent player holding the keys to regional crossings, Cairo has found itself facing a highly sensitive test — how to preserve its national security and strategic interests and remain faithful to its role in supporting the Palestinians without becoming embroiled in a direct confrontation that threatens its internal stability, Abdel-Aziz said.
Egypt’s response to the conflict came as early as 21 October 2023 when it hosted the Cairo Peace Summit that attracted broad international and regional participation to discuss the escalation in the Gaza Strip and halt the Israeli aggression against Palestinian civilians.
When Trump took all by surprise in January this year by unveiling a plan for taking over Gaza and turning it into a “Mediterranean Riviera”, Egypt was the first to stand up to it. When Trump proposed on 26 January that the Palestinians be displaced from Gaza and deported to Egypt and Jordan, Cairo was also decisive in rejecting this proposal. Three days later, Al-Sisi said that “Egypt can’t accept any plans aimed at displacing the Palestinians.”
“Cairo did not hesitate to declare that any mass exodus of the Palestinians to Egyptian territory would mean the root-and-branch liquidation of the Palestinian cause and the end of the right of return,” said Abdel-Aziz, adding that “by taking this decisive stance, Egypt drew a red line for all the parties and cemented the image of a state that does not compromise its principles.”
“Although some voices in Israel and abroad have attempted to promote the displacement scenario as a solution to the crisis, Egypt’s rejection, supported by unified Arab positions, has blocked all attempts to impose this scenario,” he said.
Al-Ahram political analyst Gamal Abdel-Gawwad believes that the two-year Gaza war has shown that Egypt has learned from the mistakes of the 1967 War, when hasty decisions led to the loss of Sinai to Israel.
“This time round, despite repeated provocations, Cairo has exercised self-restraint and managed the crisis rationally. It has not been drawn into a military confrontation that could plunge the country and the region into disaster. Egypt has demonstrated that it has learned the lessons of the past and that it is capable of distinguishing between wise solidarity with the Palestinian cause and being drawn into reckless steps that put its national security at risk,” Abdel-Gawwad said.
While taking decisive steps against displacement schemes, Egypt has engaged in active diplomacy at the regional and international levels, seeking from the early days of the war to curb its escalation and open paths to a political solution.
After hosting the Cairo Peace Summit in October 2023, Egypt engaged in mediation negotiations in coordination with Qatar and the US to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Egypt conducted successful contacts with the Israeli side and the Palestinian factions, in coordination with Qatar and under American sponsorship, in November 2023, leading to the reaching of a humanitarian truce for a period of seven days during which 90 Israeli hostages and three bodies were released, as well as 22 individuals of other nationalities.
These were in exchange for Israel releasing 240 Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons and expanding the process of allowing aid to enter Gaza.
Throughout 2024, Egypt intensified efforts in coordination with mediators the United States and Qatar to reach an agreement on a new ceasefire. “In 2024, it became clear to all how the Gaza war had negatively affected Egypt, particularly in economic terms, through stripping the country of around $8 billion in revenues from the Suez Canal,” said Abdel-Gawwad.
The Suez Canal was affected because attacks on ships by Yemen’s Houthis in reaction to Israel’s aggression in Gaza caused major shippers to divert away from the route.
Egypt’s efforts culminated in reaching an agreement between the Israeli and Palestinian sides on 19 January 2025 that was divided into three stages, each lasting 42 days.
During this period, 33 Israeli hostages were released in exchange for the release of 1,924 Palestinian prisoners, with the entry of approximately 600 trucks of aid daily, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from some areas of Gaza, and the reopening of the Rafah Crossing for the exit of 50 wounded and injured Palestinians daily.
However, the Israeli side obstructed the completion of the agreement by launching a unilateral military operation against the Strip, which led to the resumption of the fighting.
MOVING QUICKLY: Egypt then moved quickly to organise an extraordinary Arab Summit that was held in Cairo on 4 March 2025 in coordination with Bahrain, the current chair of the Arab League Council.
The summit resulted in the international adoption of an Egyptian plan for the reconstruction of Gaza. It also expressed its rejection of any attempts to force the Palestinians to leave their land and condemned the fragmentation of the Gaza Strip or the forced change of its demographics.
In the days that followed the summit, the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) announced its backing of the Egyptian plan, which was also endorsed by the Arab League.
In parallel, Spain came forward with a vote of confidence, followed by France, the UK, Italy, and Germany. In a joint statement on 8 March, the four countries said that the Egyptian plan represented a realistic path to rebuilding Gaza and, if implemented, promised rapid and sustainable improvements to the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians living in the Strip.
The plan, costing $53 billion, would include removing 50 million tons of rubble, removing unexploded ordnance, providing temporary housing units, constructing a total of 460,000 permanent housing units, and restoring basic services, networks, and facilities.
It also aims to rebuild Gaza over five years, with a focus on emergency relief, infrastructure restoration, and long-term economic development, and calls for the Strip to be governed temporarily by a committee of independent experts and the deployment of international peacekeepers. The committee would be responsible for overseeing humanitarian aid and temporarily managing Gaza’s affairs under the supervision of the Palestinians.
Abdel-Gawwad said that the Egyptian plan for the reconstruction of Gaza is a success not only because it was widely endorsed by Arab, Islamic, and major European countries, but also because it deals a fatal blow to Trump and Israel’s displacement plans.
“It showed to the world that Gaza can be reconstructed without displacing the Palestinians, and it showed to the US and Israel in particular that the world is against their schemes and that they should drop their displacement scenarios,” Abdel-Gawwad said.
He indicated that Egypt’s efforts in this regard were important because the displacement plans represent a danger to the country’s national security.
In April 2025, Egypt, along with Qatar, succeeded in persuading Hamas to agree to the release of Israeli-American hostage Alexander Eden as a goodwill gesture from Hamas to demonstrate its seriousness regarding reaching a ceasefire in Gaza and its willingness to respond to the mediators’ efforts.
In August 2025, Egypt, trying its best to stem the bloodshed in Gaza, put forward a proposal which included a temporary ceasefire agreement. It included a ceasefire for a period of 60 days, the release of 10 hostages and 18 bodies, and the distribution of humanitarian aid according to the mechanism of the January 2025 agreement.
The proposal stated that the mediators, namely Egypt and Qatar and the United States, would guarantee the continuation of the ceasefire for 60 days and that Trump would guarantee the continuation of serious negotiations for an additional period until the two parties reached a comprehensive agreement.
Hamas accepted the Egyptian proposal, but Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government put forward impossible conditions that hindered its implementation.
The Israeli strike against the Hamas negotiating delegation in Doha on 9 September was a dramatic development and a shock to the efforts led by Egypt and Qatar to bring about a truce and to end, temporarily or permanently, the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza.
According to Abdel-Gawwad, the strike made Doha no longer a suitable place for any future ceasefire negotiations. “It made Egypt the only viable destination for any future contacts on the war in Gaza,” he said, adding that when Hamas declared its approval of Trump’s 20-point plan on 3 October, it was natural that Egypt would host the new round of indirect talks between the two parties.
Regarding the aid provided to Gaza, throughout the past two years Egypt alone had provided approximately 80 per cent of the total aid that has entered the Strip. This came through the Egyptian Red Crescent and in coordination with international organisations, affirming Egypt’s leading role as a key supporter of the Palestinian people and a strategic hub for humanitarian efforts in the region.
Egypt has so far dispatched 45 aid convoys to Gaza since 1 March this year. Each convoy includes more than 100 humanitarian aid trucks carrying more than 1,200 tons of food supplies to Gaza. The Egyptian Red Crescent said last week that the aid convoys to Gaza are part of Egypt’s ongoing national efforts under the From Egypt to Gaza Initiative, launched on 27 July, to support the people of Gaza.
It said that more than 35,000 aid trucks carrying over 500,000 tons of aid have entered Gaza since the war erupted in October 2023. The assistance has included food, water, medical supplies, and essential items such as personal hygiene products, baby formula and diapers, as well as ambulances and fuel trucks.
The Palestinian media reported this week that dozens of Egyptian bulldozers have entered the central Gaza Strip as part of preparations to set up a temporary relief camp comprising thousands of tents near the Al-Bureij Refugee Camp.
Egypt has also worked to facilitate the delivery of aid to civilians and put Arish Airport in North Sinai in use to receive any other aid from countries around the world. It has allowed several world leaders, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and French President Emmanuel Macron, to pay field visits to Arish and Rafah, where they called for the reopening of the crossing points between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to allow the delivery of humanitarian goods to the Palestinians.
Egypt also arranged a visit last August for a number of US senators to see for themselves how Israel is blockading aid from entering Gaza.
Abdel-Aziz indicated that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian side of the Rafah Crossing on 2 March has prevented the entry of aid, fuel, civil defence supplies, and shelter for the displaced who have lost their homes in Gaza.
“The queues of humanitarian aid trucks standing in front of the Rafah Crossing waiting for Israel to allow them to enter clearly confirms the falsity of what some parties are promoting, claiming that the crossing is closed on the Egyptian side,” he said.
Abdel-Aziz stressed that Egypt’s current efforts, either to reach a ceasefire or deliver humanitarian aid, represent an extension of its historic role in addressing the Palestinian cause during the dangerous and complex period that the Middle East is currently going through.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 9 October, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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