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How Cairo Is Failing the Palestinians
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, June 10, 2024. Photo: Amr Nabil/Pool via REUTERS
Egypt recently hosted top US and Israeli officials for Israel-Hamas ceasefire discussions. But nine months into a war that Hamas launched, Egypt has often exacerbated the conflict and largely evaded criticism for intensifying Palestinian suffering.
CIA director Bill Burns, top Biden Middle East advisor Brett McGurk, and senior Israel officials arrived in Cairo earlier this month to discuss a ceasefire deal, the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and mechanisms for securing the Egypt-Gaza border.
The last element is pivotal for weakening Hamas. The terrorist group has imported much of its weaponry via tunnels underneath the Gaza-Egypt border. Shutting off that valve is central to Israel’s war plans. In May, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that it discovered around 20 tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor, the strip of land that runs along the Egypt-Gaza border, most of which crossed into Egypt.
In 2013 and 2014, at the beginning of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s rule, Egypt reportedly destroyed more than 1,600 tunnels crisscrossing the Egypt-Gaza border. And in 2015, Egypt demolished thousands of homes on the Egyptian side of Rafah, along the border with Gaza, to prevent smuggling. However, in the years since, Egypt has become much laxer in anti-smuggling efforts, allowing Hamas to stockpile weapons.
There are several possible explanations for this reversal, including that it allowed Sisi to use the situation in Gaza as a tool for regional influence, keeping Egypt relevant in the Israeli-Palestinian arena as it competes with Qatar, Turkey, and Iran.
Embarrassment regarding his insufficient anti-smuggling efforts might explain why Sisi was so concerned about Israeli operations along the Egypt-Gaza border. For months, Rafah remained Hamas’ last bastion in Gaza. In May, Egypt warned of “dire consequences,” including downgraded bilateral relations, as Israel inched towards launching its Rafah offensive.
Egypt’s approach to Palestinian aid has also been worrisome. On October 12, just days after Hamas carried out its killing spree in southern Israel, Sisi stressed the importance of Palestinians remaining “steadfast and present on their lands.” In other words, Gazans were not welcome in Egypt. As over a million Palestinians gathered in Rafah in February, Egypt refused to allow them across the border into the Sinai.
Even wounded and sick Palestinians have largely not escaped this ban. In late June, Cairo allowed only a trickle of 19 Palestinians to enter Egypt for treatment. This was the first time in nearly two months that Egypt allowed wounded or sick Palestinians into the country. Recently, Egypt has reportedly refused to allow larger numbers of medical evacuations unless the Palestinians control the Gaza side of the border.
Egypt has justified its policies by claiming to fear that Israel would not allow Gazans to return after the fighting ended, pointing to the Palestinian experience in 1948. Egypt also argued that Hamas operatives would sneak into Sinai among refugees by posing as civilians and attacking Israel from Egyptian soil. Such developments would increase Israeli-Egyptian tensions.
When Cairo has let in Palestinians, it has reportedly exploited their suffering by charging exorbitant sums for entry permits. According to a New York Times report, an Egyptian tourism company with close ties to Egypt’s security establishment has been charging Gazans between $2,500 and $5,000 to exit the territory. According to NPR, on March 1 alone, 400 Palestinians paid around $1.3 million to exit through Egypt.
In recent months, Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the entry of aid via the Rafah crossing, possibly to pressure Israel into making concessions to the Palestinians. Egypt wisely understands that international public opinion will castigate Israel for Palestinian suffering but ignore Egypt for adding to it.
To be sure, Israel has played down Egypt’s role as a spoiler, presumably to avoid embarrassing Egypt and thereby jeopardizing Israeli-Egyptian ties. Similarly, since 2007, Egypt and Israel coordinated on a blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, but only Israel received widespread criticism for it.
The lack of interest in Palestinian suffering not attributable to Israel was also apparent when around 3,000 or 4,000 Palestinians were killed in Syria’s civil war from 2011 to 2020, including approximately 500 or 600 Palestinians who died from torture. And in the Ein el-Hilweh camp in Lebanon, clashes between rival factions left 13 Palestinians dead in July 2023 and resumed in September.
You could be forgiven if you missed the street protests, university encampments, divestment calls, city council resolutions, or social media campaigns decrying these injustices; there weren’t any.
Egypt has frequently worsened Palestinian suffering, including by reportedly sabotaging Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations in May. As Egypt returns to the spotlight for the latest round of ceasefire negotiations, it is worth highlighting Egypt’s largely unhelpful role, even if Cairo receives a free pass in the court of public opinion.
David May (@DavidSamuelMay) is a research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Haisam Hassanein (@HaisamHassanei1) is an adjunct fellow. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
The post How Cairo Is Failing the Palestinians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.