My motivation stems from a recent wave of disinformation, opportunistic grandstanding, and evasion of responsibility by some parties. These voices that have gone so far as to hurl reckless accusations at Egypt, which has exerted unmatched efforts in supporting the Palestinian people.
Despite the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe inflicted upon Gaza by the Israeli war over the past two years, it is both timely and essential to revisit some facts that have been either forgotten or deliberately ignored.
First and foremost, Egypt regards the Palestinian cause as a matter of national security. This is not merely a rhetorical position but a strategic imperative that guides the country's leadership to act with calculated seriousness, prioritizing Egyptian interests without ever abandoning long-standing Arab and ethical commitments.
One of the defining characteristics of Egypt’s policy is its unwavering consistency: Egypt has been — and will continue to be — the principal bulwark against attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
It is the only country that directly oversaw Israel’s final withdrawal from Gaza in September 2005, exerting unparalleled diplomatic and security pressure to ensure that the last Israeli soldier and settler departed, thus rendering the strip liberated territory.
Following the 1967 war, Israel occupied Gaza and maintained a military presence at the Palestinian border crossing until its withdrawal in 2005. The Rafah crossing agreement, signed in November of that year between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, laid out conditions for operating the crossing (international monitoring, presidential guards, and PA oversight). Still, Egypt was not a signatory to this arrangement.
From the Egyptian side, the Rafah crossing has never been closed to the movement of people and goods into Gaza.
However, it is self-evident that passage into Gaza requires the crossing to be open from the Palestinian side — a possibility that vanished after Israel destroyed, occupied, and shut down the Palestinian side of the crossing over a year ago.
As a result, all humanitarian aid from Egypt and other sources has had to enter via the Kerem Shalom (Karam Abu Salem) crossing under Israeli control.
Egypt has led every ceasefire negotiation between Israel and Hamas during the six wars launched by Israel on Gaza between December 2008 and May 2023.
In the current war, although Egypt has engaged from the outset in ceasefire talks alongside Qatar and Washington, the consequences of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood have rendered the negotiations far more complex, making a resolution difficult to achieve.
Nonetheless, Egypt was the first country in the world to move decisively, just two weeks after the outbreak of the war, by convening the Cairo International Peace Summit on 21 October 2023. Attended by leaders from 34 nations, President El-Sisi presented a five-point roadmap aimed at resolving the Gaza crisis and ultimately settling the broader Palestinian issue.
In December 2023, Egypt was again the first country to propose a comprehensive, phased ceasefire framework, now recognized as the foundational blueprint guiding all subsequent negotiations.
Since the beginning of the war, Egypt has engaged in every serious ceasefire dialogue — whether held in Cairo, Doha, or Tel Aviv — without ever relenting in its pursuit of solutions.
Egypt has tabled proposals, bridged gaps, and maintained that ending the war is the key to enabling humanitarian access, securing a prisoner exchange, initiating reconstruction, and ultimately reviving the political process.
In March 2025, Egypt put forward a reconstruction roadmap that explicitly rejected displacement and emphasized a political solution — an initiative that received broad Arab consensus.
At this juncture, I feel compelled to raise several pressing questions that warrant honest and objective reflection.
Has Operation Al-Aqsa Flood advanced the Palestinian cause or inadvertently reduced it from a political question to a humanitarian crisis, focused solely on aid delivery and feeding the starving?
When can Gaza realistically return to its pre-war state? How much time and how many billions will be needed to rebuild, and which nations will bear the cost in a territory vulnerable to renewed conflict?
How has the war enabled Netanyahu’s extremist government to execute a similar agenda in the West Bank — one of killing, destruction, and settlement — while accelerating serious efforts to expel Gaza’s population abroad?
How did Egypt firmly resist such schemes, and at what cost?
Is the two-state solution still viable? Or have Israel’s on-the-ground policies rendered it obsolete?
Is Israel willing to reengage in genuine peace talks, or will it use the events of 7 October to escalate its security demands and further entrench the status quo?
Has the war prompted Washington to reconsider its role in brokering a future peace? Or has it simply reinforced its alignment with Israeli positions?
The situation in Gaza has now crossed every conceivable red line amid an Israeli extremism that listens to no one.
The reality demands wisdom and flexibility to salvage what can still be saved. Yet, instead of constructive engagement, some actors — who bear partial responsibility for the current catastrophe — have sought to deflect blame and scapegoat Egypt.
I call on such forces to resist the temptation of political theatre and moral posturing. Let them not wager with Palestinian blood, and let them acknowledge that Egypt has sacrificed lives and resources in ways that defy imagination.
Those who question Egypt’s commitment are not only distorting the past and misrepresenting the present, but also willfully blind to the future.
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