GAZA CITY: During the recent Israeli conflict with Gaza, a shift in Egyptian policy was evident in President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s pledge of half a billion dollars to rebuild the besieged enclave.
The unprecedented visit of the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Abbas Kamel, to Gaza, as an official envoy of El-Sisi, came as a major indication of the change in Cairo’s policy toward Hamas.
The relationship deteriorated following the overthrow of former Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013.
Egypt played a key role in brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas on May 21 following 11 days of cross-border fighting last month that left a trail of destruction with more than 250 dead and hundreds wounded.
Cairo opened the Rafah crossing to dozens of Egyptian vehicles that entered Gaza to remove the rubble of destroyed buildings and pave the way for the reconstruction process. In addition, Cairo is also supplying goods to Gaza in light of strict Israeli restrictions.
However, Mukhaimer Abu Saada, professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, differentiates between the Egyptian policy toward Gaza and the official Egyptian relationship with Hamas.
He said Egypt’s role in Gaza is strategic due to the factors of history and geography. As for the country’s relationship with Hamas, it falls within the framework of “political tactics” to serve both sides.
Abu Saada believes the shift that appeared in the Egyptian policy toward Gaza rulers Hamas would not have taken place “without the green light from the US administration” following American President Joe Biden’s first phone call to El-Sisi.
“Egypt and Hamas are beneficiaries of this transformation,” Abu Saada told Arab News.
“Hamas, which has suffered greatly politically and financially after the years of estrangement that followed the overthrow of the late President Mursi, is keen to develop its relationship with the Egyptian regime.”
As for Egypt, Abu Saada said, it adheres to its position as a major regional player in the Palestinian arena, being the historical sponsor of Palestinian issues.
At the same time, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is not completely satisfied with the current Egyptian policy toward Gaza and the country’s openness to Hamas, he said, adding that this may be one of the main reasons behind the dialogue setback that was supposed to be launched in Cairo last Saturday.
“The PA, which has sought over the past four years to besiege Hamas politically and financially by imposing sanctions on Gaza, does not want Hamas to exploit the recent Israeli conflict in its favor through the Egyptian gate,” Abu Saada said.
Following Mursi’s ouster, the Hamas-Egypt ties deteriorated to the point that it was suggested in the Egyptian media that Hamas has supported the Salafists in Sinai and helped them carry out attacks in Cairo.
Ibrahim Al-Madhoun, a political analyst close to Hamas, believes that Egypt has a great opportunity to regain its regional weight. He also thinks Hamas is ready to identify with the Egyptian side if its demands are met, especially the lifting of the siege on Gaza and the cessation of Israeli attacks on Jerusalem.
Al-Madhoun does not see Egypt making a U-turn on Hamas, but he says it has raised the degree of its interest, concentration, and ability to move in vital files.
Hani Al-Basous, professor of political science and international relations, said the current Egyptian tactic with Hamas is based on recognizing it as a fait accompli. He said the Palestinian force has great weight, gained popular Arab momentum after the latest conflict, and it should be dealt with with new mechanisms and not with a new political orientation.
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Why Egypt’s Hamas policy changed after Israeli-Gaza conflict
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Why Egypt’s Hamas policy changed after Israeli-Gaza conflict
- El-Sisi pledges half a billion dollars to rebuild besieged enclave after Cairo plays key role in brokering a ceasefire
- Expert says country’s policy toward Gaza and official Egyptian relationship with Hamas are two different things
MSF says conditions for Gaza medics ‘as hard as it’s ever been’ despite truce
DOHA: Conditions for medics and patients in Gaza are as severe as ever despite a nearly two-month truce in the territory, the president of medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in an AFP interview.
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed in October to a US-backed truce deal for Gaza which stipulated an influx of aid to the territory devastated by two years of war and in the grip of a humanitarian crisis.
“It’s as hard as it’s ever been,” Javid Abdelmoneim said of conditions for medical staff operating in Gaza’s hospitals, speaking on the sidelines of the annual Doha Forum on diplomacy on Sunday.
“While we’re able to continue doing operations, deliveries, wound care, you’re using protocols or materials and drugs that are inferior, that are not the standard. So you’ve got substandard care being delivered,” he explained.
Abdelmoneim, who worked as a doctor in Gaza in 2024, said the ongoing truce was only a “ceasefire of sorts” with “still several to dozens of Palestinians being killed every day by Israel.”
Despite the truce, 376 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health authorities, as well as three Israeli soldiers.
“We’re seeing the injured patients in the emergency rooms in which we work throughout the strip,” he added.
Aid agencies are pushing for more access for humanitarian convoys to enter Gaza while Israel has resisted calls to allow aid through the Rafah crossing from Egypt.
Aid ‘weaponized’
The MSF president said that since the truce began, aid “hasn’t come in to the level that’s necessary.”
“There isn’t a substantial change and it is being weaponized... So as far as we’re concerned that is an ongoing feature of the genocide. It’s being used as a chip and that’s something that should not happen with humanitarian aid,” Abdelmoneim said.
In 2024, MSF said its medical teams had witnessed evidence on the ground in Gaza and concluded that genocide was taking place.
Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the report saying at the time that it was “fabricated.”
Abdelmoneim said both the lack of supplies and the destruction of hospitals in the Palestinian territory — still not offset by the provision so far of field hospitals — meant care remained inadequate.
“Those two things together mean increased infection rates, increased stays and greater risk of complications. So it is a substandard level of care that you’re able to deliver,” he said.
The MSF president also sounded the alarm over the safety of medical staff in Sudan where at the end of October the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized the North Darfur capital of El-Fasher, the army’s last stronghold in the western region.
The paramilitaries’ final advance after a bitter 18-month siege was followed by reports of widespread atrocities.
“One feature that has been consistent, no matter where you are in Sudan, no matter who controls the territory, are attacks on health care and blockages to supply movements and provision of health care,” Abdelmoneim said.
’Freedom, protection access’
The World Health Organization said at the end of October that it had received reports that more than 460 patients and their companions had been shot dead at a maternity hospital in El-Fasher during its capture by the RSF and of six health workers being abducted.
On Thursday, an RSF drone attack on the army-held town of Kalogi in Sudan’s South Kordofan state hit a children’s nursery and a hospital, killing dozens of civilians including children, a local official told AFP.
“Both sides need to allow humanitarian and medical workers freedom, protection and access to the population, and that includes supplies,” said Abdelmoneim, who also worked as a doctor in Omdurman in Sudan in February.
The MSF president said the charity’s medical teams receiving displaced people in Sudan and neighboring Chad were encountering “harrowing tales of sexual violence, tales of ethnically targeted violence, extortion” as well of “evidence that really does point to famine-like conditions.”
In Tawila, a town now sheltering more than 650,000 people fleeing El-Fasher and nearby Zamzam camp, also under RSF control, Abdelmoneim said the MSF had been told by survivors “that family members are detained and never seen again.”
“So our question is, what has happened to that population?” he said.
The medical charity was backing calls by the UN Human Rights Council for an enquiry into the reported violations.
“We would encourage all member states to support that, an independent investigation inside El-Fasher,” Abdelmoneim said.
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed in October to a US-backed truce deal for Gaza which stipulated an influx of aid to the territory devastated by two years of war and in the grip of a humanitarian crisis.
“It’s as hard as it’s ever been,” Javid Abdelmoneim said of conditions for medical staff operating in Gaza’s hospitals, speaking on the sidelines of the annual Doha Forum on diplomacy on Sunday.
“While we’re able to continue doing operations, deliveries, wound care, you’re using protocols or materials and drugs that are inferior, that are not the standard. So you’ve got substandard care being delivered,” he explained.
Abdelmoneim, who worked as a doctor in Gaza in 2024, said the ongoing truce was only a “ceasefire of sorts” with “still several to dozens of Palestinians being killed every day by Israel.”
Despite the truce, 376 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health authorities, as well as three Israeli soldiers.
“We’re seeing the injured patients in the emergency rooms in which we work throughout the strip,” he added.
Aid agencies are pushing for more access for humanitarian convoys to enter Gaza while Israel has resisted calls to allow aid through the Rafah crossing from Egypt.
Aid ‘weaponized’
The MSF president said that since the truce began, aid “hasn’t come in to the level that’s necessary.”
“There isn’t a substantial change and it is being weaponized... So as far as we’re concerned that is an ongoing feature of the genocide. It’s being used as a chip and that’s something that should not happen with humanitarian aid,” Abdelmoneim said.
In 2024, MSF said its medical teams had witnessed evidence on the ground in Gaza and concluded that genocide was taking place.
Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the report saying at the time that it was “fabricated.”
Abdelmoneim said both the lack of supplies and the destruction of hospitals in the Palestinian territory — still not offset by the provision so far of field hospitals — meant care remained inadequate.
“Those two things together mean increased infection rates, increased stays and greater risk of complications. So it is a substandard level of care that you’re able to deliver,” he said.
The MSF president also sounded the alarm over the safety of medical staff in Sudan where at the end of October the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized the North Darfur capital of El-Fasher, the army’s last stronghold in the western region.
The paramilitaries’ final advance after a bitter 18-month siege was followed by reports of widespread atrocities.
“One feature that has been consistent, no matter where you are in Sudan, no matter who controls the territory, are attacks on health care and blockages to supply movements and provision of health care,” Abdelmoneim said.
’Freedom, protection access’
The World Health Organization said at the end of October that it had received reports that more than 460 patients and their companions had been shot dead at a maternity hospital in El-Fasher during its capture by the RSF and of six health workers being abducted.
On Thursday, an RSF drone attack on the army-held town of Kalogi in Sudan’s South Kordofan state hit a children’s nursery and a hospital, killing dozens of civilians including children, a local official told AFP.
“Both sides need to allow humanitarian and medical workers freedom, protection and access to the population, and that includes supplies,” said Abdelmoneim, who also worked as a doctor in Omdurman in Sudan in February.
The MSF president said the charity’s medical teams receiving displaced people in Sudan and neighboring Chad were encountering “harrowing tales of sexual violence, tales of ethnically targeted violence, extortion” as well of “evidence that really does point to famine-like conditions.”
In Tawila, a town now sheltering more than 650,000 people fleeing El-Fasher and nearby Zamzam camp, also under RSF control, Abdelmoneim said the MSF had been told by survivors “that family members are detained and never seen again.”
“So our question is, what has happened to that population?” he said.
The medical charity was backing calls by the UN Human Rights Council for an enquiry into the reported violations.
“We would encourage all member states to support that, an independent investigation inside El-Fasher,” Abdelmoneim said.
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