The border between Egypt and Gaza has become a major point of contention in the negotiations over a cease-fire to end the war in Gaza — not just between Israel and Hamas, but also between Israel and Egypt.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says the country must occupy the border area to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. He has cast control of the Philadelphi Corridor, as the border zone is known, as a matter of existential importance for Israel, though some Israeli politicians believe he is using the issue to avoid reaching a deal for a cease-fire and the release of hostages.
Egypt argues that it has already cracked down on smuggling there — because doing so serves its own security interests, not just Israel’s — by building barriers, destroying tunnels and patrolling the area. For Cairo, accepting Israeli troops on the border would threaten its own national security and draw criticism from the Egyptian public, analysts say.
The increasingly bitter dispute has destabilized the once strong security partnership between Egypt and Israel, whose landmark 1979 peace treaty has been a linchpin of Middle East geopolitics for decades.
Here’s a look at the issue.
What has Hamas been able to smuggle through the border?
Exactly how much Hamas has been able to smuggle into Gaza via the Gaza-Egypt border — above ground or through tunnels — is unknown.
The question has come underfierce debate even in Israel: Some Israelis — who want to see an agreement reached to free Israeli hostages — have played down the issue of smuggling through the Philadelphi Corridor. . But others who want Israel to keep fighting to destroy Hamas have emphasized the danger to Israel’s security.
That, along with the difficulty of obtaining independent information, makes it difficult to assess the scale of the smuggling.
Current and former Israeli security officials have often said that tunnels and insufficient screening at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Israel have allowed Hamas to stock up on weaponry and other supplies that can be turned into weapons.
Hamas has smuggled in components of long-range rockets, rocket-propelled grenades, sniper rifles, machine guns, bullets and other weapons, according to an Israeli security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to communicate with the media.
Nadav Argaman, a former director of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 that only “a very small amount of weapons” had been smuggled into Gaza through tunnels since Egypt acted to clear the border zone of tunnels and infrastructure. Most smuggling had instead occurred aboveground at the Rafah crossing, he said, adding that there was “no connection between the weapons in Gaza and the Philadelphi Corridor.”
Hamas has also heavily relied on other routes, including small fishing boats coming by sea and through the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Gaza and Israel, three Israeli defense officials said.
And Hamas has failed to import sophisticated anti-tank missiles, a sign that Egypt’s efforts to stamp out smuggling have had success, two of the three defense officials said. Most of Hamas’s weapons have been locally made, the officials said. In contrast, Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and a beneficiary of Iranian support, like Hamas, has repeatedly fired advanced anti-tank missiles against Israel.
Still Hamas has publicly acknowledged receiving arms from abroad. In May 2021, Yahya Sinwar, then Hamas’s political leader in Gaza, singled out Iran for praise, thanking it for not being “stingy” in supplying the group with weapons.
Eyal Hulata, a former Israeli national security adviser, agreed that much of the smuggling occurred above ground through the Rafah crossing, which before the war served as a conduit for people to move between Egypt and Gaza. Still, in an interview he described underground smuggling in the area as a “serious problem.”
A dossier compiled by an Arab intelligence agency in April and obtained by The Times says that some 2,500 tunnels once existed between Gaza and Egypt, but that most were destroyed in an Egyptian government crackdown between 2013 and 2016.
Around 10 tunnels existed as of early 2024, but increased Egyptian oversight has eroded smuggling in recent years, the document says. Two Israeli defense officials also said Egypt had stepped up anti-smuggling enforcement in recent years, especially regarding the tunnels.
But in their heyday, the tunnels frustrated Israeli officials because they allowed for both weapons and goods like fuel to enter Gaza unchecked.
Egypt considers Hamas a security threat and is eager to prevent it from arming itself. Yet, the document adds, Egyptian personnel at the border often accept bribes to look the other way.
What does Israel say about smuggling there?
In a news conference on Wednesday evening, Mr. Netanyahu insisted that Israel would not agree to a cease-fire unless Israel could secure the corridor.
“Somebody has to be there,” he said, adding that until “they can actually prevent the recurrence of what happened there before,” Israel should remain.
Control of the Philadelphi corridor only appeared as a serious stumbling block in the past few weeks. Before that, Mr. Netanyahu barely mentioned it in public, if at all, leading some of his critics to say he was using the matter as a way to sabotage talks.
Israel, with U.S. backing, has previously pressed Egypt to heighten security along the border by building a high wall extending below ground, with sensor systems that would alert both the Israeli and Egyptian militaries to tunneling and smuggling, according to Egyptian and Israeli security experts.
Such a system would be similar to the 40-mile underground wall, outfitted with hundreds of cameras, radars and sensors, that Israel built after uncovering tunnels from Gaza into Israel.
Some have called for advanced screening equipment to be installed at the Rafah crossing to prevent smuggling there.
What does Egypt say?
Egypt says it has effectively cut off smuggling routes into Gaza. Years ago, it destroyed the main smuggling tunnels, flooded them with seawater and razed the buildings that provided cover for people using the tunnels. Egypt also destroyed its side of Rafah, a city that formerly straddled both sides of the Egypt-Gaza border, and moved Egyptian residents out.
Egypt views Hamas, an offshoot of an Egyptian Islamist group that Cairo considers an enemy, as an existential threat as well.
“Netanyahu’s attempt to blame Egypt for all the smuggling is total, utter nonsense,” said Abdel Monem Said Aly, a pro-government Egyptian political analyst.
Egypt believes the presence of Israeli troops in the corridor risks further angering the Egyptian public. And Egypt wants to show that it can manage the border itself.
Egypt is also extremely sensitive to the danger that Israel might use its control of the border to push Gazans to flee into Sinai. .
What does it mean for the relationship?
Earlier this year, Egypt warned Israel that its actions at Rafah and in the border zone could constitute a violation of the two countries’ peace treaty. In recent weeks, it has accused Israel of fixating on the border area to stall a cease-fire.
Following Mr. Netanyahu’s Wednesday remarks, Al Qahera News, a state-owned broadcaster, quoted an unnamed senior official accusing Israel of overlooking other smuggling routes and blaming Egypt to cover up Israel’s own “failures.”
Yet neither side appears willing to give up on the peace treaty. Israel has tried to win more Arab partners, not enemies. For Egypt, the accord has generated valuable military and intelligence cooperation against an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, as well as natural gas imports from Israel, a close relationship with the United States and billions of dollars in American aid.
The post The Fight for Control Over the Philadelphi Corridor appeared first on New York Times.
