By | Mar 28, 2025
The Egyptians have continued to reject President Trump’s suggestion that Egypt and Jordan take in large numbers of Gazans while the reconstruction of the Strip takes place. But now they have been threatened with the loss of American aid if they do not agree to accept between 500,000 and 700,000 people from Gaza. More on the threat, conveyed to the Egyptians by the president of the UAE Mohammed bin Zayed, can be found here: “US support for Egypt at risk if Cairo refuses to accept Gazans, UAE President warns – report,” by Yuval Levy, Jerusalem Post, March 26, 2025:
The Egyptian government has been warned that this is their “last chance” to accept a portion of Gaza’s displaced population and that they risk losing American support if they refuse, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported on Sunday. [March 23]….
Egypt has since 1979 received more than $50 billion in military aid and $30 billion in economic aid from the United States, making it the second largest recipient of American aid after Israel. That aid has been essential to Egypt’s wellbeing, and especially now, with its collapsing economy, the threat of that aid being cutoff must be concentrating minds in Cairo.
On Sunday, Israel’s security cabinet approved Defense Minister Israel Katz’s proposal to establish a new department within the Ministry of Defense to organize the ‘voluntary departure’ of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Katz’s office stated that the department would work to “secure and organize the safe and orderly departure of Gaza residents” by providing transportation routes, implementing screening measures at crossings, and coordinating travel by land, sea, and air.
The United States and Israel are now working in tandem to see if Trump’s vision can come to pass. The Israelis are making plans to facilitate the large-scale movement of people out of Gaza, while the Americans are now pressuring Egypt to agree to take in a great many of those Gazans who either want, or can be persuaded, to leave.
On Friday, the Egyptian State Information Service (SIS) responded to media allegations that Cairo was preparing to relocate half a million Gazans to the northern Sinai region.
“Egypt has resolutely and definitively rejected any attempt to forcibly or voluntarily displace Palestinian brothers and sisters to any location outside Gaza, especially to Egyptian territories,” the SIS emphasized, according to Egypt Independent, a privately owned, pro-government publication. “This would represent the liquidation of the Palestinian cause and pose an imminent threat to Egypt’s national security.”
That was Egypt’s policy on Friday. But that was before Mohammed bin Zayed delivered his message to General El-Sisi, that this was a “last warning” from the Americans, for Egypt to agree to take in hundreds of thousands of Gazans or be cut off from aid. Does Egypt still want to risk the loss of many billions of dollars in American aid at a time when its economy is collapsing?
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