2024-01-09 15:51:29
Three Egyptian security sources reported that Egypt rejected an Israeli proposal to strengthen Israeli supervision of the buffer zone on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, and that Cairo gives priority to mediation efforts in a ceasefire before working on post-war arrangements.
Egypt shares a 13-kilometre border with Gaza, which is the only border of the Gaza Strip that is not directly controlled by Israel.
Egypt, along with Qatar, also played a prominent role in the talks to mediate a new ceasefire in Gaza and reach an agreement to release Israeli hostages held by Hamas, according to Archyde.com.
The Egyptian sources said that during these talks, Israel contacted Egypt to secure the narrow buffer zone of the Philadelphia Axis along the border, as part of Israeli plans to prevent future attacks.
The current conflict began on October 7, when Hamas launched an attack that Israel said killed 1,200 people and captured regarding 240 hostages.
Israel responded with an attack that killed more than 23,000 people, according to Gaza officials, and displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents from their homes.
An Israeli official, on condition of anonymity, said that joint monitoring of the Philadelphia axis with Egypt was among the issues the two countries discussed.
In response to a question regarding whether Egypt refused, the Israeli official said: “I am not aware of that.”
Cairo News Channel quoted an unidentified source on Monday as saying that recent reports regarding planned cooperation between Egypt and Israel regarding the axis are not true.
Egyptian sources said that Israeli officials did not discuss control of the axis during the current ceasefire talks, but instead asked to participate in monitoring the area, including by sharing the use of new surveillance technology that Israel will purchase.
The sources said that Egyptian negotiators rejected the idea, but Egypt reinforced barriers on its side of the border.
The sources added that Egypt gives priority to reaching a new ceasefire agreement as a necessary basis for discussions on post-war Gaza, including securing the corridor.
Tunnels
For his part, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Tuesday that the priorities for Gaza are a ceasefire, the delivery of aid, and preventing the exodus of Gazans to Egypt.
Israel controlled the Philadelphia axis until 2005, when it ended its occupation of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. Late last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was seeking to reassert its control over the axis under which Palestinians have long run underground tunnels.
The number of tunnels began to increase in 2008, and Palestinian smugglers and militants used them to avoid an Israeli economic blockade and to bring weapons to the Gaza Strip, but an Egyptian military campaign that began in 2013 was able to destroy most of them, according to Palestinian sources.
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