Egypt aid restrictions are complicating Gaza cease-fire negotiations
As Hamas and Israel continue to disagree over some of the finer details of a hostage and cease-fire deal for Gaza, there’s one issue that’s preventing the two parties from restarting formal negotiations: aid shipments.
Since the Israel Defense Forces entered Rafah earlier this month — shutting down Gaza’s southern border crossing with Egypt — Cairo has reportedly refused to let fuel trucks pass through into the enclave. And two senior administration officials say Egypt has stopped all aid shipments through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Egyptian officials had for months pressed Jerusalem not to move forward with a Rafah ground invasion, claiming it would bring chaos too close to its border and threaten its security. It also pushed back against Israel taking over the Rafah border crossing.
Israel went into Rafah anyway. And in response, Egypt restricted the aid shipments.
“It’s all stopped,” the official said, referring to Egypt’s shipments through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The move by Egypt has sparked tensions between Cairo and Jerusalem. The current cease-fire deal on the table hinges in part on the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, officials say. If Egypt were to restart the shipments, it would significantly improve the aid situation on the ground, defuse tensions, and potentially allow for talks to restart, according to the two senior administration officials and two other people familiar with the situation.
Sources were granted anonymity to discuss the situation with Egypt in order to protect their ability to help get fuel and other much-needed aid into Gaza.
“Aid groups inside Gaza are in desperate need of this fuel,” one of the senior officials said. “Without it, they can’t operate. And without the greater flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the deal can’t get done.”
Top U.S. officials, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, have pressed Egyptian officials in recent days to restart fuel shipments. But Cairo has so far refused.
The two people familiar with the situation and two other aid workers briefed on Egypt’s reasoning said Cairo is withholding the fuel in an effort to complicate Israel’s ability to aid the humanitarian effort inside Gaza during its Rafah operation.
“It's the blood of the response,” said Scott Anderson, the director for Gaza for UNRWA, the main aid group operating in Gaza. “The lack of fuel forces us to choose: Do you keep bakeries running or hospitals running or the sewage pumps running? And not doing any of those has different consequences, but they all have consequences to people.”
The decision by Cairo has severely undercut aid groups’ ability to not only transport aid into Gaza but also to prop up aid operations, including at hospitals, angering Biden officials.
Because aid groups cannot buy discounted fuel from Egypt, they have to buy it at market price from Israel, Anderson said. The U.N. requires UNRWA to keep certain fuel levels in order to operate in Gaza — and it is maintaining that level. But that does not leave much fuel for its other operations.
CIA Director William Burns returned to Washington from Cairo on May 9, after Israel’s Rafah invasion halted the latest round of talks. The negotiations are still paused, and the director is not currently scheduled to travel to meet with his counterparts — though that could change if Egypt agrees to change course.
The aid restrictions from Egypt are not the only complicating factors to the talks. Hamas has claimed publicly that it decided to withdraw from the negotiations because of Israel’s invasion of Rafah. Other U.S. officials believe Hamas is attempting to pressure Israel to withdraw, which could lead to the resumption of conversations. But Israel has said it plans to continue and expand its operations inside Rafah in the coming weeks in order to expel Hamas from the area.
