Egypt distances itself from Gaza war
Egypt is not playing an active role to mediate a cease-fire, as it has done in previous confrontations between Israel and Hamas, suggesting that it might prefer Israel delivering a blow to Hamas.
Communications between Hamas and Egypt failed to prevent another Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, with the launch of Operation Protective Edge on July 8, according to what Al-Monitor learned from well-informed sources in Gaza and Cairo.
On July 5, and prior to the current escalation, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry declared that his country is making efforts to calm the situation between Palestinians and Israel.
For his part, Osama Hamdan, head of Hamas’ international relations department, stressed on July 4, that he would not accept any truce without lifting the blockade of the Gaza Strip, denying the existence of any genuine effort in this direction and stressing that Egypt did not interfere to achieve this truce.
Al-Monitor learned from well-informed Palestinian and Egyptian sources that on July 4 Egyptian intelligence asked Ramadan Shalah, head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to communicate with Hamas to extend the truce that was concluded after the 2012 war. However, he refused to play the role of the mediator between Egypt and Hamas since he is in the same trench with Hamas, a situation that angered Egypt and made it no longer interested in upholding its efforts for the truce. It should be noted that communications between Egypt and Hamas have been almost severed following the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi last year.
