If newspaper headlines are any guide, most of the world’s attention is focused not on the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran, but on the plight of Gaza’s civilians, whom Hamas is committed to putting in the way of the IDF’s counterattack. Jordan and Egypt, meanwhile, have emphatically declared that they have no interest in taking any refugees from Gaza at all. Haisam Hassanein argues that Egypt’s President Sissi is making a mistake:
Cairo’s main concern is to prevent a refugee crisis that could spill over to its territory and “liquidate” the Palestinian issue. . . . Cairo also worries that hosting Palestinian refugees could pose a national-security threat. Operatives from Hamas and other Gazan terrorist groups could infiltrate by posing as refugees and then launch attacks inside Egypt.
In the long term, [however], the destruction of Hamas would bolster not only Israel’s security but Egypt’s as well. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement founded in Egypt that the Sissi regime regards as a threat. . . . Egypt would be better off backing Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas and working with Israel and other friendly countries to devise creative proposals to deal with Gazan refugees and post-Hamas governance in the enclave.
Read more on FDD: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/10/17/israel-war-why-wouldnt-egypt-want-gazan-refugees/