Egypt’s FM accuses Israel of violating Gaza truce ‘every day,’ urges deploying peacekeepers ASAP

DOHA — Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty calls for deploying the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza “as soon as possible,” claiming that Israel is using the absence of international monitors on the ground in Gaza to violate the ceasefire on a daily basis.

“As for the International Stabilization Force, we need to deploy this force as soon as possible on the ground because one party, which is Israel, is every day violating the ceasefire and claiming that the other side is violating [it], so we need monitors,” Abdelatty says during a Saturday onstage panel at the Doha Forum.

Israel insists that its forces have only responded to what it says are daily violations by Hamas operatives, including the opening of fire on IDF troops. The IDF also says it has shot dead Palestinian suspects daily who have approached the Yellow Line, which roughly divides Gaza into eastern and western halves controlled by Israel and Hamas, respectively.

Abdelatty reveals that Egypt wants the ISF to deploy along the Yellow Line, to which Israel withdrew at the start of the ceasefire on October 10. That line of deployment appears to be the growing consensus among stakeholders, as countries aren’t willing to permanently station their troops inside what has become known as the red zone — the western, coastal side of Gaza under de facto Hamas control.

The Egyptian foreign minister also takes another increasingly popular position among potential ISF contributors, which is that the force should be engaged in peacekeeping, not peace-enforcing. This would likely contradict the US desire that the ISF play a key role in the disarmament of Hamas, unless the terror group agrees to willingly give up its weapons as part of a negotiated settlement — something that currently appears unlikely.

On the Rafah Crossing, which has been closed since May 2024, Abdelatty claims that Israel is to blame as it is only willing to open it on the condition that it be a one-way transit route for Palestinians exiting Gaza.

Egypt won’t allow Rafah to be used “as a gate for displacement or for putting people out of their homeland,” he says. “There is no ethical or moral justification to displace the Palestinians.”

The only exception he gave for Palestinians who should be allowed to leave is those who need medical treatment, and even they should be expected to return after that treatment has concluded, he said.