After years of behind-the-scenes activity in the Gaza Strip, Egypt is going public. Since mediating a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group, Egypt has sent crews to clear rubble and is promising to build vast new apartment complexes.
Egyptian flags and billboards praising President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi have sprung up across the Palestinian territory. It is a new look for the Egyptians, who have spent years working quietly to encourage Israel-Hamas truce talks and reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions.
The shift could help prevent or at least delay another round of violence. By presenting itself as a Mideast peacemaker, Egypt could also blunt efforts by the Biden administration and some US lawmakers to hold the country accountable for human rights abuses.
The 11-day Gaza war last May allowed Egypt to once again market itself as an indispensable security partner for Israel in the region which it is, which in turn makes it an indispensable security partner for the U.S., said Hafsa Halawa, an expert on Egypt at the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank. Gaza is a reminder to everybody, effectively, that you can’t really do anything without Egypt, she said.
The expanded aid, along with its control over Rafah the only Gaza border crossing that bypasses Israel gives Egypt leverage over Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has ruled Gaza since driving out forces loyal to the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007.
Egypt joined Israel in imposing a crippling blockade on the territory after the Hamas takeover, but both countries have recently taken steps to ease the restrictions, tacitly acknowledging that Hamas rule is here to stay.
After negotiating the informal cease-fire that ended the Gaza war, Egypt pledged 500 million to rebuild the territory and sent work crews to remove rubble.
While it remains unclear how much of that money has been delivered, Egypt is now subsidizing the construction of three towns that are to house some 300,000 residents, according to Naji Sarhan, the deputy director of the Hamas-run Housing Ministry. Work is also under way to upgrade Gaza’s main coastal road.
Sarhan said the projects will take a year and a half to complete. We hope there will be large bundles of projects in the near future, especially the towers that were destroyed in the war, he said.
Israel leveled four high-rises during the fighting, saying they housed Hamas military infrastructure. It has not publicly released evidence backing up the claims, which Hamas denies.
The construction materials will be shipped through Rafah. Alaa al-Arraj, of the Palestinian contractors’ union, said nine Palestinian companies will take part in the Egyptian projects, which would generate some 16,000 much-needed jobs in the impoverished territory.
The Egyptian presence is palpable. Nearly every week, Egyptian delegations visit Gaza to inspect the work. They have also opened an office at a Gaza City hotel for permanent technical representatives. Egyptian flags and banners of Egyptian companies flutter atop bulldozers, trucks and utility poles. Dozens of Egyptian workers have arrived, sleeping at a makeshift hostel in a Gaza City school.