Israel vows to fight Hamas all the way to Gaza’s southern border. That’s fuelling tension with Egypt
- Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which staged a brutal attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 Israelis
- Egypt fears Israeli operations in Gaza will push a massive wave of Palestinians fleeing across the border
Israel faces a growing risk of damaging its peace with neighbouring Egypt as its military pushes the offensive against Hamas further south in the Gaza Strip. Already, the two sides are in a dispute over a narrow strip of land between Egypt and Gaza.
Israeli leaders say that to complete their destruction of Hamas, they must eventually widen their offensive to Gaza’s southernmost town, Rafah, and take control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a tiny buffer zone on the border with Egypt that is demilitarised under the two countries’ 1979 peace accord.
In a news conference last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas continues to smuggle weapons under the border – a claim Egypt vehemently denies – and that the war cannot end “until we close this breach”, referring to the corridor.
That brought a sharp warning from Egypt that deploying Israeli troops in the zone, known in Egypt as the Salaheddin Corridor, will violate the peace deal.
“Any Israeli move in this direction will lead to a serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations,” Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, said on Monday.
Egypt fears that an Israeli attack on Rafah will push a massive wave of Palestinians fleeing across the border into its Sinai Peninsula.