Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to send troops to Rafah, a Gazan city that borders Egypt to fight Hamas, which has left the Egyptian government threatening to suspend its peace treaty with the nation.
According to two Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat, Egypt is contemplating suspending the peace treaty with Israel if troops are sent to Rafah.
Egypt is threatening to void its decades-old peace treaty with Israel. What does that mean? https://t.co/LhqWCDbTIz
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 12, 2024
Military operations in the area “could tear apart our peace,” one of the Egyptian officials said. “We will not tolerate such a move.” The official wanted to remain anonymous due to not being authorized to talk to the press.
An attack on Rafah could have dire consequences for Egypt.
If Israel attacks Rafah, it could send thousands of Palestinians to Egypt. In recent months, the population of Rafah has dramatically increased from 280,000 to 1.4 million as Palestinians try to flee from Israeli attacks.
In 2008, thousands of Palestinians crossed into Egypt after Hamas blew up the border wall upon taking over Gaza.
Egyptian officials informed Israel that they must allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza before they begin attacking the area.
The White House expressed the same sentiment. On Sunday, President Joe Biden told Netanyahu that the Rafah invasion “should not proceed” without a safety plan for the civilians living there.
Netanyahu agreed to protect Palestinian civilians from the Rafah attacks by having the military evacuate them before the start of the offensive.
On Sunday, he stated that civilians would be able to return to areas farther north.
If Egypt decides to suspend its peace treaty with Israel, it could deter the country’s funding.
Egypt depends heavily on funding from the U.S. Since the peace treaty, the U.S. has supplied Egypt with billions of dollars in U.S. military assistance. The funding would cease if the treaty is suspended.
Israel would suffer as well. The peace treaty limits the amount of troops on both sides of the border. If Egypt breaks the agreement, the Egyptian military will cease their security efforts at the border, which would stretch the Israeli military thin.
The two countries signed a peace treaty in 1978 at Camp David, Maryland with then-President Jimmy Carter. The world watched as Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the historic treaty.
