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The Real Reason Hamas and Egypt Oppose Israel's Control of Rafah, the Only Border Out of Gaza

(Gatestone Institute) Bassam Tawil - On May 6, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) captured the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, drawing condemnations from Egypt. A day earlier, Hamas terrorists fired rockets from near the Rafah terminal toward the Israel-Gaza border, killing four Israeli soldiers and wounding several others. The Egyptians have good reason to be angry with the presence of the IDF at the Rafah border crossing. Arab and Western media outlets have reported that since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, Palestinians who want to leave Gaza through the Rafah terminal are being compelled to bribe Egyptian officials with thousands of dollars. "To leave Gaza, people are paying a $5,000 bribe to Egypt," the Gaza-based Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary wrote on X on Nov. 23, 2023. According to The Guardian, Palestinians seeking to leave Gaza "say they are being asked to pay large 'coordination fees' by a network of brokers and couriers with alleged links to the Egyptian intelligence services." Hala Consulting and Tourism Services, a company owned by an influential Egyptian businessman and ally of President el-Sisi, Ibrahim al-Organi, is making $2 million a day from Palestinians fleeing Gaza, the UK-based Middle East Eye reported on May 1, 2024. In the past three months alone, the company is estimated to have made a minimum of $118 million from desperate Palestinians trying to leave Gaza. One can understand why Egypt and Hamas strongly oppose having the IDF stationed at the border crossing: the millions of dollars they have been receiving may disappear.
2024-05-16 00:00:00
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