Israel’s Shin Bet director was in Cairo to address tensions with Egypt over Gaza war — report

Israel’s Shin Bet director Ronen Bar was in Cairo yesterday to meet with Egyptian intel chief Abbas Kamel amid reported tensions between Jerusalem and Cairo over the war against Hamas in Gaza, according to an Axios report.

The report cites two Israeli sources who say Bar traveled to Cairo on Monday to discuss non-hostages related issues after participating together with Kamel in the hostage talks in Paris on Sunday. The issues included military operations near the Egypt border and plans for after the war, according to the report.

Israel’s Kan public broadcaster also reported on Bar’s visit to Cairo Monday afternoon, and said the “security delegation” arrived back in Israel Monday night.

The tensions with Egypt are said to be over Israeli operations in Rafah, on the border with Egypt and the question of who will control the Philadelphi corridor Egypt-Gaza border after the ongoing war is over, with Israel reportedly seeking to control the key border.

Hebrew language media reported last week that Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s office has has refused a request to speak on the phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the matter.

Egypt also warned last week that any attempt to reinstitute security control of the strip of land that separates the Gaza Strip and Egypt will result in a “serious threat” to relations between the neighboring countries.

The so-called Philadelphi Route is a 14 kilometer (nine-mile) corridor that runs all along the Egypt-Gaza border. Israeli leaders have recently talked about retaking control of the corridor — from which the IDF withdrew when Israel left Gaza in 2005 — to prevent arms from being smuggled to Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza overland and via tunnels. Egypt fears that a military operation on the border could push large numbers of Palestinians into its territory.