Hours after the Israeli military announced it would proceed with its plans to attack and seize control of cities in the Gaza Strip, Egypt decided to step up its rhetoric against Tel Aviv.
Egypt has been awaiting an Israeli response to the proposed 60-day truce put forward earlier in August, and it has warned of the dire consequences of the aggressive policies being adopted by the extremist far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A statement by the Foreign Ministry said the systematic Israeli crimes and war of extermination against innocent civilians in Gaza and the ongoing Israeli plans to displace the Gazans from their land only serve to exacerbate the crisis.
They reflect Israel’s complete disregard for the efforts made by mediators in the crisis, the proposed ceasefire deal, the release of the remaining Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the flow of humanitarian aid, and international demands to end the war and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians after nearly two years of conflict.
The statement warned that the Israeli government’s persistent violations of international law in Gaza to serve narrow political interests would only lead to further escalation in the region.
It said that Egypt is following with deep concern the Israeli government’s insistence on launching a military offensive aimed at seizing control of Gaza City, calling upon the international community to intervene to put an end to the Israeli war on the Strip.
According to Mohamed Al-Orabi, a former foreign minister and head of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, Egypt’s increasingly harsh tone is on a par with the escalation being undertaken by the hardline Netanyahu government, which has ignored all international efforts to end the war.
Council member and former assistant foreign minister Mohamed Hegazy agreed with this view.
However, both Al-Orabi and Hegazy believe that the newly harsh rhetoric will not halt or hinder Egypt’s role as a mediator in the conflict. It clearly expresses Egypt’s commitment to supporting the Palestinian cause and sending a strong message to the Israeli side to refrain from rejecting the truce or further threatening regional security.
Al-Orabi said that Egypt’s harsh rhetoric had begun on 5 August, just days before Israel adopted its plans to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, when President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza during a press conference with his Vietnamese counterpart.
Al-Sisi said the “war in Gaza has gone beyond any logic or justification and has become a war of starvation and genocide, as well as an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause.”
In a speech at a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Monday, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty reiterated Egypt’s categorical rejection of Israel’s continued systematic violations, its perpetration of crimes and genocide against a defenceless people, and its disregard for all international laws and norms.
Abdelatty also affirmed Egypt’s complete rejection of Netanyahu’s recent statement regarding a so-called “Greater Israel”, which he said reflected nothing but the arrogance of power and which Egypt would neither accept nor allow to happen.
Abdelatty took Israel to task for the continuation of the war and its deliberate disregard for mediators’ attempts to reach a ceasefire, the latest of which was a proposal approved by Hamas last week.
This proposal would have led to a deal to release the hostages and prisoners, reach a ceasefire, and ensure the urgent and effective delivery of relief aid to address the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Hegazy said Abdelatty’s speech at the OIC indicated that Israel has deliberately sabotaged the ceasefire proposal and that the US fully supports it in doing so.
This is despite the fact that the terms of the deal were originally drafted by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and were unconditionally accepted by the Palestinian factions, most notably Hamas.
US President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that the Gaza war would reach a “conclusive ending” in the next two or three weeks, saying that there was a serious “diplomatic push” underway to end the nearly two-year conflict.
“I think within the next two to three weeks, you’re going to have pretty good, conclusive, a conclusive ending,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, considered a pro-Israel hawk, said that “one of the conditions for the end of the war is Hamas no longer leading Gaza, which is also one of Israel’s key demands. We want the war to end but to end without Hamas.”
Hegazy said that what Trump had based his prediction on was unclear, given that Israel has indicated it is not interested in the phased ceasefire proposal that Hamas agreed to last week in Cairo.
“The Israeli government has instead been moving ahead with plans to conquer Gaza City, which is expected to take at least several months,” Hegazy said.
Abdelatty has indicated several times that once the Gaza war ends, Hamas will no longer be in power and that the Palestinian Authority will be in charge in Gaza. He has also not ruled out the temporary deployment of Egyptian or international forces under a UN resolution that ensures the creation of a Palestinian state.
Different media reports indicated this week that in the face of Israel’s intransigence, Egypt has decided to bolster its Armed Forces along the border with Gaza, amid fears over the possibility of Israel occupying Gaza City and forcing approximately one million Palestinians to flee to the south of the Strip and towards the Egyptian border.
The reports said that Egypt’s move to bolster its forces along the border with Gaza was a way of sending the message that it categorically rejects the forced displacement of the Palestinians into Sinai or other countries and warns against any security breaches on Egyptian territory.
North Sinai Governor Khaled Megawer said last week that “anyone who even thinks of approaching the Egyptian border will be surprised by our response.”
Hegazy said Egyptian mediation efforts are still ongoing and that Abdelatty has increased his communications with his counterparts regarding the situation in Gaza.
“We need more stringent international action, whether through the UN Security Council or by imposing economic sanctions on Israel,” Hegazy said, indicating that “it is good that several other countries, particularly in western Europe like France and the UK, are planning to recognise Palestine as a state during the UN General Assembly’s meetings next month, while others like Norway and Germany have decided to suspend weapon deliveries and investments to Israel.”
“But what we need is stronger action like imposing economic sanctions to force the extremist far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the truce deal and end the war in Gaza.”
Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tamim Khallaf told the Middle East News Agency this week that Egypt’s mediation efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire and stop Israel’s starvation campaign against the Palestinians were meant to bring about a truce, expand humanitarian aid access, and facilitate captive-prisoner exchanges.
“The talks have seen ups and downs since Israel failed to implement the January ceasefire deal,” he said. “The ball is now in Israel’s court after the Egyptian-Qatari proposal was presented, and we still have hopes that Israel will finally respond in favour.”
“The truce, already approved by Hamas, calls for a 60-day ceasefire, the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the exchange of hostages and prisoners.”
Abdelatty told the press on Monday that Egypt has contributed 70 per cent of the total aid that has entered Gaza since the beginning of the war in October 2023. As soon as a ceasefire is reached, Egypt will host an international conference on early recovery and reconstruction in Gaza.
He criticised those who have attacked Egyptian embassies abroad under false allegations that Egypt is blockading Gaza. “The targeting of Egyptian embassies shows domestic political motives rather than humanitarian ones. It serves the Israeli occupation by dissipating the international pressure on it and shifting the blame onto Egypt for crimes it has not committed,” Abdelatty said.
He emphasised that “anger at the siege of Gaza is legitimate and indeed is a moral and human imperative. Redirecting that anger towards Egypt, however, is an inversion of the truth and a falsification of the situation.”
“Israel is the party waging an inhumane war on Gaza, in which more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 100,000 wounded, including more than 12,000 children,” Abdelatty concluded.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 28 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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