Sissi said to rebuff Israeli request for phone call with Netanyahu

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s office has refused a request for the leader to speak on the phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, multiple Hebrew media outlets report.

Netanyahu’s office, via the National Security Council, tried to coordinate the conversation in recent days but were rebuffed, the reports say, adding that lower-level contacts are being held and that Israeli delegations have visited Cairo in recent weeks.

Channel 13 news says the issue is related to tensions over the question of who will control the Egypt-Gaza border after the ongoing war is over, with Israel reportedly seeking to control the key border.