18 September 2025
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi sounded like a man who has had enough of Israel’s actions when he addressed the Arab-Islamic summit in Qatar this week. He called Israel an “enemy” – the first time an Egyptian leader has done so publicly in decades – and warned the 1979 peace treaty between them would be annulled if the current situation continued.
“Don’t allow the work for peace done by those before us go to waste. If you do, regret will be of no use,” he said at the summit on Monday.
Mr El Sisi has been steadily stepping up his criticism of Israel in recent months, calling it out for starving Palestinians in Gaza and describing its military operation in the Palestinian territory as genocide.
Beneath the talk, however, the former army general is quietly putting his army, the Middle East’s largest, on a war footing to deal with the eventuality of Israel making living conditions in Gaza so intolerable that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians pour across the border into Egypt.
Mr El Sisi has repeatedly stated that any movement of Palestinians into Egypt, whether voluntary or forced, would be a red line that he would not tolerate.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in an interview this month that he would allow Gazans to leave through the Rafah crossing with Egypt but that “they would be blocked”.
His comment drew a sharp Egyptian response, with government statements suggesting that such a move would be a declaration of war.
Source:thenational
