File Photo: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. AFP
"Egypt has fumed at Israel for a host of issues in recent months that remain unresolved, accordingly decreasing the chances that El-Sisi will meet Netanyahu any time soon, despite interest in Jerusalem and Washington in making such a summit happen," the official told the Israeli paper.
"Cairo still fears that Israel hasn’t ruled out the effort [to push the Palestinians from Gaza to Sinai] amid plans to focus the first reconstruction projects in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, along the Egyptian border," the official said.
"While Netanyahu has sought in recent months to repair ties, El-Sisi has shown little interest in engaging with the Israeli leader absent what the official described as fundamental changes in Israel’s conduct toward Egypt," said the Israeli paper.
The Israeli official said that the Egyptian President rejected any such meeting partly to prevent it from being used by Netanyahu as a media victory in an Israeli election year, noting that unresolved issues over the Gaza truce and the Rafah border crossing make such a summit unlikely.
The Times of Israel report on Saturday that President El-Sisi has no plans to meet Netanyahu comes less than 24 hours after the same paper claimed on Friday that it had learned that the "Israeli PM is planning to travel to Cairo to sign a multibillion-dollar agreement to supply natural gas to Egypt."
"Senior US source confirms to ToI that Israeli officials are working with American diplomats on preparations for trip, which would be PM’s first official state visit to Egypt in 15 years," said the Israeli paper.
Israeli media reports quoting American and Israeli officials on "meetings in the works" between the Egyptian leader and Netanyahu come at the end of a week in which Cairo has strongly rejected recent Israeli schemes to use the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza as a gateway to expel the Palestinians from the strip.
They also come as Egypt maintains intensive diplomatic efforts for the international community to pressure Tel Aviv to respect the terms of the October ceasefire with Hamas by withdrawing occupation troops and allowing for the process of reconstruction of the strip to start.
Egypt, along with Qatar, Turkey and the US, brokered a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas based on President Trump’s plan, signed during the Sharm El-Sheikh Summit for Peace on 13 October, to end the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.
On Friday, President El-Sisi reiterated the need for Israel to fully implement the Gaza ceasefire, allow the delivery of humanitarian aid, and immediately commence the early recovery and reconstruction phase in the strip.
Last week, Foreign Minister Badr Abdellatty and the head of the State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, restated in clear terms Cairo's rejection of Israeli manoeuvres to thin the population of Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.
In tandem, Egypt and seven Arab and Muslim-majority nations have stressed that without ending Israel’s occupation of Gaza, including the so-called buffer zones along the borders with Egypt and Israel, the stage would be only set for renewed hostilities in Gaza and the region.
Throughout the war, Egypt has firmly rejected all Israeli schemes to displace Palestinians from their homeland, reaffirming its support for the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on the borders of 4 June 1967.
In the face of the widespread Israeli destruction of the strip since October 2023, Egypt has prepared a comprehensive reconstruction plan for Gaza, which was adopted by Arab and Muslim nations during the Cairo summit in March. Along those lines, Cairo has been preparing to host an international conference for Gaza’s reconstruction.
Over the past two years, Egypt has provided a primary lifeline for 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza who were facing famine in the face of an Israeli blockade and restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid to the strip.
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