Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) issued—then softened—a public statement defending its military deployments in Sinai. The move followed reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged Washington to pressure Cairo over what Tel Aviv describes as a “buildup” near the Gaza border.
Netanyahu has repeatedly attacked Egypt for refusing to accept Palestinians from Gaza, accusing Cairo of “imprisoning” them inside the enclave. Egyptian officials swiftly rejected the accusation, describing it as a political maneuver to deflect attention from Israel’s escalating atrocities in the Strip.
That accusation came amid a series of regional efforts to normalize Palestinian displacement. In January, US President Donald Trump called on both Egypt and Jordan to ‘absorb’ displaced Palestinians—a proposal Egypt denounced as a blueprint for ethnic cleansing.
In March, Israel’s security cabinet approved a so-called “voluntary migration bureau” to relocate Palestinians to third countries. Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that any Palestinian in Gaza who wished to leave would be allowed. By August, Israel was reportedly in talks with South Sudan toward this end, although Juba denied the claim at the time.
Netanyahu presented US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with a list of alleged Egyptian military activities in Sinai that Israel claims breach the 1979 Camp David Accords, as reported by Axios.
The dossier reportedly cited the extension of airstrips to accommodate fighter jets and the construction of subterranean facilities believed to be missile storage sites—though no evidence was offered, Axios noted.
Israeli officials told the outlet that Egypt had not provided satisfactory diplomatic explanations, prompting Tel Aviv to demand US intervention. One Israeli official called the situation “extremely dangerous,” citing a drop in monitoring capacity after international peacekeepers scaled back patrols in Sinai. An Egyptian official relayed to Axios that the Trump administration had not recently broached the issue with Cairo.
Tensions between Cairo and Tel Aviv have deteriorated significantly since Netanyahu’s return to power in late 2022, according to the report. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has not met Netanyahu publicly in nearly three years, and official communication reportedly ceased in mid-2023.
Cairo between resolve and restraint
Original, now deleted SIS statement, Sept. 20, 2025. (Translated using Google Translate, verified by Al Manassa staff).Cairo regards Israel’s Gaza policies—particularly the push to displace Palestinians into Sinai—as a direct threat to Egyptian national sovereignty. El-Sisi has repeatedly warned that Israeli actions risk undermining the brittle peace framework.
In its updated statement, the SIS insisted Egyptian troop deployments in Sinai are in line with national security priorities, and adhere to the coordination mechanisms outlined in the Camp David peace accords. The agency emphasized Egypt’s unbroken record of compliance with international agreements, stating it has never violated a treaty in its modern history.
The revised text also reaffirmed Egypt’s categorical rejection of any expansion of military operations in Gaza or the forced displacement of Palestinians, reiterating its support for a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
A more assertive earlier version of the statement—later removed—stressed that Egypt’s military posture in Sinai, or anywhere else within its borders, is guided solely by national security imperatives.
It highlighted the Egyptian army’s duty to safeguard the country’s sovereignty on all strategic fronts and invoked commitments to international humanitarian law. The statement concluded by linking increased vigilance to the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, which continues just kilometers from Egypt’s northeastern frontier.
SIS chief Diaa Rashwan later published a Facebook post reiterating Egypt’s “red line”: a firm rejection of both forced and voluntary displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. He slammed what he called the “messianic hallucinations” driving Israeli policy, and warned that Cairo has repeatedly alerted regional and international stakeholders to the dangerous repercussions of violating this principle amid what he described as Israel’s “barbaric assault” on Gaza.
