Egypt-Israel ties at risk over Philadelphi Corridor, Cairo says

JANUARY 23, 2024 05:17

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, gather as they seek shelter at the border with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2024. (photo credit: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa) — Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, gather as they seek shelter at the border with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2024.

(photo credit: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

The head of the State Information Services (SIS) Diaa Rashwan said Israeli accusations that it had failed to secure that border were false.

Cairo issued a public warning to Israel on Monday that the ties between the two countries were at risk over IDF control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14-kilometer buffer zone that runs along Egypt’s border with Gaza.

“It must be strictly emphasized that any Israeli move in this direction will lead to a serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations,” the head of the State Information Services (SIS) Diaa Rashwan said in a statement he issued.

“Egypt,” Rashwan said, “is capable of defending its interests and sovereignty over its land and borders, and will not mortgage it in the hands of a group of extremist Israeli leaders who seek to drag the region into a state of conflict and instability.”

Israel seeks to halt weapons smuggling

This latest message from Cairo warning against IDF control of the Philadelphi Corridor comes as Israel looks to halt a weapons smuggling route from Egypt into Gaza through that buffer zone.

The IDF had controlled that zone under terms set out by its 1979 peace treaty with Egypt until it withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

IDF patrol in South after 2011 cross border attack 370 (R) (credit: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters)

Rashwan said Israeli accusations that it had failed to secure that border were false, explaining that its army had destroyed over 1,500 tunnels in that area and built a 12-foot concrete barrier along that buffer zone, half of which was underground.

“There are three barriers between Sinai and Palestinian Rafah, with which any smuggling operation is impossible, neither above ground nor underground,” Rashwan said.

The Egyptian army in agreement with Israel increased its forces at the border both in 2005 and in 2021 to prevent weapons smuggling, he explained.

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“Egypt has full sovereignty over its land, and has complete control over its entire northeastern borders,” he added.

“Israel's continued marketing of these lies is an attempt to create legitimacy for its attempt to occupy the

“Philadelphi Corridor” or “Salah al-Din Corridor”, in Gaza along the border with Egypt, in violation of the security agreements and protocols signed between it and Egypt,” Rashwan stressed.

He also reminded Israel that Cairo also considers any forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Sinai as a “red line” that should not be crossed.