Egypt Security Sector Report
This week’s dispatch includes reports on Egypt and regional developments in Palestine, Syria, the Red Sea, and the Horn of Africa. It also discusses arms imports, the militarization of the judicial branch and sports, education, refugees, Menendez’s sentencing, Egypt’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council, and prison deaths.
📁 Palestine
Egyptians sporting black jackets with an Arabic tag “Egyptian-Qatari Committee” were seen directing traffic to the north through the Netsarim Corridor in Gaza on Monday.
Armed Egyptian agents in uniform are also present but positioned away from the main checkpoint. Although media reports previously spoke about the deployment of an Egyptian “security company,” an Egyptian source told Reuters that the Egyptians at the checkpoint were special forces trained in recent months, including counter-terrorism. (Most certainly, they are the GIS’s own special forces, not the army’s.)
US armed contractors, along with teams from the Red Cross, were at the inspection area, while Israeli forces monitored the process from a short distance. As vehicles arrive, all passengers exit, leaving only the driver, who proceeds to a drive-in inspection point. There, a scanner checks the car for weapons and explosives, and the entire process takes only a few minutes, according to witnesses.
American contractors from UG Solutions in Gaza. A senior delegation of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, including Khaled Mesh’al, arrived in Cairo Monday, for talks with Egyptian officials, as well as to greet the deported released Palestinian prisoners. At least 70 of them had been transferred to Cairo, awaiting their exile to other countries. This is Mesh’al’s first visit to Egypt since November 2023.
Trump on Monday
doubled down on his desire for Egypt and Jordan to take in displaced Palestinians from Gaza, 48 hours after his suggestion to “clean the whole place out” caused significant uproar across the world and rejection from the parties involved.
Shortly after speaking with Egypt President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, Trump said “I’d like to get them living in an area where they can live without disruption, revolution.” He further told the press pool that “when you look at the Gaza Strip, it's been hell for so many years.”
Trump further insisted that Sissi should take in Palestinians as a favor to the U.S. “I wish he would take some. We helped them a lot, and I'm sure he’d help us. He’s a friend of mine. He’s in a very rough part of the world, to be honest. As they say, It’s a rough neighborhood. But I think he would do it, and I think the King of Jordan would do it too.”
A “high-ranking official,” however, denied on Tuesday that a phone call between Sisi and Trump took place, the GIS-run al-Qahera News reported.
Still, the White House insisted a phone call did take place.
While the Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s statements have been carefully worded, the GIS-run media, the security services-backed political parties, and the regime publicists are up in arms against “conspiracies” targeting Egypt and vocally rejecting “transfer plans” of the Gazans proposed by Trump. They also used the opportunity to call for “unity” behind the country’s leadership and army.
When asked about the Rafah Crossing Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: “The Gazans can exit through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt, but only one way and they can not return to Gaza.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Egypt’s FM Badr Abdelatty on Tuesday it was important to ensure Hamas can never govern Gaza again, according to a US State Department statement.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s statement, however, made no mention of Hamas or Rubio’s assertions. Instead, it stressed Cairo’s rejection of any plans for transfer or resettlement of Gazans.The Israeli army announced it intercepted a drone carrying 13 rifles and ammunition as it attempted to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Israel, shooting it down in the Paran Brigade area on Tuesday night.
Sisi stated Wednesday that Egypt would not be involved in the displacement of Palestinians, calling it an “act of injustice” that would endanger Egypt’s security—marking his first public response to Trump’s proposal for Cairo to take in Gaza residents.
US Ambassador Herro Mustafa Garg visited Arish and the Rafah Crossing on Wednesday, and met with N. Sinai Governor (and former director of Military Intelligence) Maj. Gen. Khaled Mogawer, to monitor the continued implementation of the ceasefire agreement.
Trump insisted Thursday that Egypt and Jordan would take in displaced Gazans.
“Our stance is clear,” FM Abdelatty stated on Friday, reiterating Cairo’s rejection of any attempts to displace Gaza’s population.
Asked if Egypt would have to consider the Trump proposal to avoid Washington taking aggressive measures on US military aid, a government source told al-Ahram that he did not expect such arm-twisting “to happen.”
“This is not how Egypt and the US manage their bilateral relations or work on Egyptian-Israeli relations. Egypt and the US are working together to secure the sustainability of the ceasefire in Gaza,” he said.
The Egyptian regime mobilized hundreds to “protest” Trump’s resettlement plans in front of the Rafah Crossing. The mobilization involved loyalists from the rubber stamp parliament and Senate, GONGOs, Farid Zahran’s emasculated “opposition” Egyptian Social Democratic Party, and a bunch of other clowns.
The Egyptian army had also contacted the tribal leaders in the previous days, requesting they join the “protest.”
The “protest” was confined to the Rafah Crossing, where no one could set foot on the peninsula without the security forces’ permission. A similar farcical gathering was held on the other side of the Gaza border.
The Interior Ministry turned down a Civil Democratic Movement’s request to hold a protest in front of the US Embassy in Cairo.
Sisi did not dare to reattempt to mobilize similar “protests” in Cairo or other urban centers, lest it be fired back like what happened in the 20 October 2023 fiasco.The EU civilian monitors arrived on Friday to reopen the Palestinian side of the Rafah Crossing, and manage it together with officials from Abu Mazen’s Palestinian Authority (PA). Officials said that people will only be allowed to travel in one direction, from Gaza to Egypt.
The Rafah Crossing opened on Saturday afternoon for the first time since May to allow the exit of Palestinian patients to Egypt.
Eight released Palestinian prisoners were also transferred to Egypt through Rafah to be deported later. One of them holds dual Egyptian Palestinian citizenship. It is unclear whether he will be deported too or allowed to stay in the country.
Following a meeting in Cairo, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the PA, as well as the secretary general of the clinically dead Arab League on Saturday rejected the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza “under any circumstances or justifications,” in response to Trump’s call for Egypt and Jordan to take in residents of the Strip.
Trump spoke on Saturday with Sisi to discuss his idea of moving Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, according to Axios. Neither the White House nor the official Egyptian statement mentioned this. Instead, the latter stated that the conversation was “positive,” and that Sisi invited Trump to visit Egypt to strengthen strategic relations and discuss regional events. He also invited Trump for the opening of the new Egyptian Museum. For his part, Trump invited Sisi to Washington, and both leaders emphasized the need to implement the Gaza ceasefire deal to ensure stability.
FM Abdelatty affirmed Sunday that Egypt’s Gaza reconstruction plan does not involve Palestinian resettlement. He later met with UN official Sigrid Kaag to discuss Egypt and the UN’s upcoming international conference on Gaza’s reconstruction.
The Israeli army announced Sunday it intercepted a drone smuggling 60 kilograms of drugs from Egypt into Israel.
