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Egypt has been sidelined in the collapsing Gaza ceasefire negotiations, with Cairo concerned that a major Israeli assault on the enclave could push Palestinians to cross into the Sinai, potentially triggering chaos, senior Egyptian intelligence officials told Middle East Eye.
Correspondence between Egypt and Israel has been completely cut off, with no progress in talks to secure a truce in Gaza, one senior intelligence official said.
Negotiations are currently ongoing between Israel and the U.S., while Qatar has a minimal role as a mediator, with no concrete results on the horizon.
The officials said that recent missions to Israel had yielded little progress, with the latest delegation reportedly receiving no concrete answers, only vague assurances regarding Washington’s most recent peace proposal.
Egyptian and Qatari intelligence officials have repeatedly pressed the U.S. to support a truce, allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and secure the release of captives held by Hamas.
“But there has been no response, as Washington has given its full blessing to every Israeli move,” the source said.
An intelligence source told Middle East Eye that Israeli leaders are eyeing Oct. 7 as a symbolic deadline.
The date marks two years since the war began. On that day, they plan to raise the Israeli flag over Gaza City and declare it fully occupied.
“For Netanyahu, taking Gaza is about dignity and restoring prestige,” the source said. “He is ready to sacrifice the hostages. That is why Israel ignored Washington’s ceasefire plan, which Hamas has already accepted.”
Israel says its war aims to free captives taken on Oct. 7, 2023. But senior ministers admit they are not a priority. Military commanders warn that only a truce can secure their release.
Netanyahu has pledged to occupy Gaza City indefinitely. Egyptian intelligence now expects Washington will treat the captives as expendable, just as Israel has.
“We expect a devastating escalation,” the source said. “Street battles. Suicide attacks. Hamas will test the Israeli army’s capacity. Heavy losses could force Israel back to the negotiating table.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on Monday reaffirmed Egypt’s firm opposition to any plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from their land during a virtual BRICS summit.
Sissi warned that such a move would amount to an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause, undermine the two-state solution, expand the conflict, and threaten the broader peace framework in the Middle East.
He also reiterated Egypt’s condemnation and outright rejection of Israeli attempts to impose sovereignty over the West Bank.
He criticized settlement expansion plans that aim to alter the legal and demographic status of the occupied Palestinian territories and impose a new reality undermining the Palestinian people’s right to establish an independent state.
Since the 1979 peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, relations between the two countries have not experienced such strain as they do currently due to the war in Gaza.
Tensions escalated particularly after Israel’s occupation of the “Philadelphia” area near the Egyptian border in violation of the peace treaty, followed by the nullification of the ceasefire agreement reached last January through Cairo’s mediation.
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