Egypt reportedly informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office of the impending attacks ten days before Hamas’ terror campaign began. According to Israeli media reports, other Egyptian intelligence officials also warned of an “impending explosion” in the Gaza Strip and a “terrible operation.” Netanyahu’s office has since denied the reports as “lies” and “fake news.”
The Egyptian side reiterated its warnings. On a sober level, there are indications that the Egyptian security services were aware of the terror campaign. The amount of weapons and explosives smuggled through the tunnels on the Gaza-Egypt border in recent months must have been enormous.
Its enormous size cannot have escaped the attention of Cairo’s ever-present secret services. The smuggling was probably not prevented because it is extremely lucrative for everyone involved, including Egyptian officials.
Even underground walls did not stop smuggling
After the end of the Israeli military operation “Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip in January 2009, Egypt attempted to secure its 15-kilometer border with the Palestinian enclave with an underground wall reinforced with metal components. Additional barriers and barbed wire fences were also built. Yet the smuggling could not be stopped.
The operators of more than 300 smuggling tunnels from the Gaza Strip are said to pay up to $600 million to Hamas each year. Not only weapons and explosives are smuggled through the secret passages into Egypt, but also food and weapons production machinery, such as precision milling machines that have been disassembled into their individual parts.
In the Gaza Strip it is an open secret that almost anything can be ordered in Egypt, as long as you pay enough for it. And Hamas has plenty of cash, sourced from Iran, the emirate of Qatar and other Arab patrons.
Hamas should easily be able to buy the silence or cooperation of Egyptian officials in the smuggling. However, there are also plenty of Egyptians who sympathize with Hamas’s goals – which would obviously not be admitted in Cairo. She also denies that thousands of Egyptians in the border city of Rafah earn their living by smuggling into Gaza.
Border crossing only in exceptional cases
In recent years, ‘normal’ entry or exit from the Gaza Strip to Egypt has generally only been possible in medical emergencies. However, trucks with relief supplies were able to pass. After the start of Hamas’ terror campaign, Egypt not only closed its border crossings with the Gaza Strip, but also re-strengthened the barriers.
The additional security measures were preceded by Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari’s call for the Palestinian population to flee the Gaza Strip to Egypt. From an official Egyptian perspective, such a development would be something of a ‘catastrophe’. Because it is certain that there will no longer be an option for Palestinian refugees to return to the Gaza Strip, which is probably under direct Israeli occupation.
Moving or shifting the “Gaza problem” to Egypt is a tempting option, especially for the Israeli right. From their point of view, the state of 100 million people on the Nile should have no problem integrating an additional 2.4 million people. The government in Cairo would do everything in its power to prevent such a development.
The Gaza Strip was under Egyptian rule from 1948 to 1967 before being occupied by the Israeli army during the Six-Day War. During this time, close ties with Egypt had developed that no longer exist today, at least officially. The Gaza Strip has been part of the Palestinian Autonomous Territories since 1995. Hamas’s seizure of power came twelve years later, after it won regular elections in the enclave. (bzbasel.ch)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
