The brutal logic of Hamas’ hostage strategy could deny Israel victory in Gaza

The brutal logic of Hamas’ hostage strategy could deny Israel victory in Gaza
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Demonstrators protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and call for new elections in the latest weekly protest against his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, in Tel Aviv, on Feb. 17, 2024. (AP/File)
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Updated 06 March 2024
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The brutal logic of Hamas’ hostage strategy could deny Israel victory in Gaza

The brutal logic of Hamas’ hostage strategy could deny Israel victory in Gaza
  • Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and recover all the hostages, either through rescue missions or ceasefire agreements
  • Hamas, meanwhile, appears to be in no hurry to reach a temporary ceasefire ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan

GAZA STRIP: Over the last five months, Israel has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, destroyed dozens of their tunnels and wreaked unprecedented destruction on the Gaza Strip.
But it still faces a dilemma that was clear from the start of the war and will ultimately determine its outcome: It can either try to annihilate Hamas, which would mean almost certain death for the estimated 100 hostages still held in Gaza, or it can cut a deal that would allow the militants to claim a historic victory.
Either outcome would be excruciating for Israelis. Either would likely seal an ignominious end for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long political career. And either might be seen as acceptable by Hamas, which valorizes martyrdom.
Netanyahu, at least in public, denies there is any such dilemma. He has vowed to destroy Hamas and recover all the hostages, either through rescue missions or ceasefire agreements, saying victory could come “in a matter of weeks.”
As long as the war rages, he can avoid early elections that polls strongly suggest would remove him from power. But it seems inevitable that at some point a choice will have to be made between the hostages and military victory.
Hamas, meanwhile, appears to be in no hurry to reach a temporary ceasefire ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next week, or to delay an expected Israeli operation in Rafah, the southern city where half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge.
Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack against Israel, has reason to believe that as long as he holds the hostages, he can eventually end the war on his terms.
SINWAR’S BLOODY GAMBLE
In over two decades spent inside Israeli prisons, Sinwar reportedly learned fluent Hebrew and studied Israeli society, and he identified a chink in the armor of his militarily superior adversary.
He learned that Israel cannot tolerate its people, especially soldiers, being held captive, and will go to extraordinary lengths to bring them home. Sinwar himself was among over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for a single captive soldier in 2011.
For Sinwar, the mass killings on Oct. 7 might have been a horrific sideshow to the main operation, which was to drag large numbers of hostages into a vast labyrinth of tunnels beneath Gaza, where Israel would be unable to rescue them, and where they could serve as human shields for Hamas leaders.
Once that was accomplished, he had a powerful bargaining chip that could be traded for large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, including top leaders serving life sentences, and an end to the Israeli onslaught that Hamas had anticipated.
No amount of 2,000-pound bombs could overcome the strategy’s brutal logic.
Israeli officials say the tunnels stretch for hundreds of kilometers (miles) and some are several stories underground, guarded by blast doors and booby traps. Even if Israel locates Hamas leaders, any operation would mean almost certain death for the hostages that likely surround them.
“The objectives are quite contradictory,” said Amos Harel, a longtime military correspondent for Israel’s Haaretz newspaper. “Of course, you can say it will take a year to defeat Hamas, and we’re moving ahead on that, but the problem is that nobody can ensure that the hostages will remain alive.”
He added that even if Israel somehow kills Sinwar and other top leaders, others would move up the ranks and replace them, as has happened in the past.
“Israel will have a really hard time winning this,” Harel said.
Israel has successfully rescued three hostages since the start of the war, all of whom were aboveground. Israeli troops killed three hostages by mistake, and Hamas says several others were killed in airstrikes or failed rescue operations. More than 100 hostages were released in a ceasefire deal in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Netanyahu says military pressure will eventually bring about the release of the roughly 100 hostages, and the remains of 30 others, still held by Hamas.
But in candid remarks in January, Gadi Eisenkot, Israel’s former top general and a member of Netanyahu’s War Cabinet, said anyone suggesting the remaining hostages could be freed without a ceasefire deal was spreading “illusions.”
It’s hard to imagine Hamas releasing its most valuable human shields for a temporary ceasefire, only to see Israel resume its attempt to annihilate the group, and Hamas has rejected the idea of its leaders surrendering and going into exile.
For Sinwar, it’s better to stay underground with the hostages and see if his bet pays off.
HOW DOES THIS END?
Netanyahu’s government is under mounting pressure from families of the hostages, who fear time is running out, and the wider public, which views the return of captives as a sacred obligation.
President Joe Biden, Israel’s most important ally, is at risk of losing re-election in November, in part because of Democratic divisions over the war. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has sparked worldwide outrage. The war threatens to ignite other fronts across the Middle East.
There’s a Hamas proposal on the table in which the hostages come back alive.
It calls for the phased release of all of the captives in return for Israel’s gradual withdrawal from Gaza, a long-term ceasefire and reconstruction. Israel would also release hundreds of prisoners, including top Palestinian political leaders and militants convicted of killing civilians.
Hamas would almost certainly remain in control of Gaza and might even hold victory parades. With time, it could recruit new fighters, rebuild tunnels and replenish its arsenals.
It would be an extremely costly victory, with over 30,000 Palestinians killed and the total destruction of much of Gaza. Palestinians would have different opinions on whether it was all worth it.
A rare wartime poll last year found rising support for Hamas, with over 40 percent of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza backing the group.
That support would only grow if Hamas succeeds in lifting the longstanding blockade on Gaza, said Tahani Mustafa, senior Palestine analyst at the Crisis Group, an international think tank.
“If this is able to bring some serious concessions that can make life just marginally better, then I think not only will this bolster support for Hamas, but it could also bolster support for armed resistance more broadly.”
Netanyahu has rejected Hamas’ proposal as “delusional,” but there is no sign the militant group is backing away from its core demands.
Israel can keep fighting – for weeks, months or years. The army can kill more fighters and demolish more tunnels, while carefully avoiding areas where it thinks the hostages are held.
But at some point, Netanyahu or his successor will likely have to make one of the most agonizing decisions in the country’s history, or it will be made for them.


’Dad, is it really you?’ freed Israeli hostage reunites with family

’Dad, is it really you?’ freed Israeli hostage reunites with family
Updated 09 February 2025
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’Dad, is it really you?’ freed Israeli hostage reunites with family

’Dad, is it really you?’ freed Israeli hostage reunites with family
  • The family reunion, away from the media spotlight but filmed and photographed by the Israeli authorities, was intimate

TEL AVIV: After 16 months of captivity in the Gaza Strip, Ohad Ben Ami found the strength to run toward his daughters, even cracking a joke during their emotional reunion, filled with both joy and tears.
“Dad, is it really you? I can’t believe you’re here,” said one of his daughters, her eyes wide with disbelief, as the freed Israeli-German hostage embraced her at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, following his release by Hamas militants during the fifth hostage-prisoner swap on Saturday.
“Yes, I’m here,” Ben Ami replied, hugging his loved ones who had been waiting anxiously for his return at the hospital.
“I left XXL and came back medium,” joked the 56-year-old, who, according to doctors at the hospital, had lost a significant amount of weight in captivity.
“I have so much to catch up on. It feels like someone has ripped me away and time kept passing.
“I have a million things pending, and I need answers ... And yes, I need to know what happened that day,” said Ben Ami, referring to October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel.
The family reunion, away from the media spotlight but filmed and photographed by the Israeli authorities, was intimate.
The footage offered a stark contrast to those captured earlier that morning in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, where Ben Ami, emaciated and with a short white beard, was paraded by masked Hamas militants before being released alongside two other hostages, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy.
Now free from wearing a T-shirt marked “Hamas prisoner” and freshly shaven, Ben Ami appeared to have a new lease of life as he entered the room where his three daughters and mother were waiting.

Laughter and tears filled the space while from among those gathered someone shouted: “What a handsome guy you are!“
Within moments they were catching up on the months lost in captivity. Ben Ami learnt that one of his daughters had enlisted in the Israeli army. “I’m proud of you,” he told her.
“In the initial medical assessment conducted, it is evident that Ohad returned in a severe nutritional state and had lost a significant amount of his body weight,” Gil Fire, deputy director at Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv said, adding Ben Ami had shown he was “resilient in spirit.”
Ben Ami and his wife were seized by Palestinian militants on October 7, 2023, from kibbutz Beeri, close to the Gaza border, during the Hamas attack that ignited the war.
Two of their daughters, who were with them that day, survived the attack.
His wife was released on November 29, 2023, during a week-long truce, the first of the war.
Sharabi, also from Beeri, did not have the chance for such a reunion.
His wife and two daughters were killed in the attack, and it appears unlikely that he was aware of this at the time of his release.
Draped in an Israeli flag, Sharabi was welcomed with tears at Sheba Hospital in Ramat Gan by his two sisters and brother, his head covered with a talith, the Jewish prayer shawl.
The reunion of Levy with his family was a sober one, marked by long embraces and crying.
He and his wife, Einav Levy, were attending the Nova festival, the site of the worst massacre committed on October 7, where he was taken hostage while she was killed.
 

 


Israel orders negotiators to Doha after fifth hostage-prisoner swap

Israel orders negotiators to Doha after fifth hostage-prisoner swap
Updated 09 February 2025
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Israel orders negotiators to Doha after fifth hostage-prisoner swap

Israel orders negotiators to Doha after fifth hostage-prisoner swap
  • The fifth exchange since the truce took effect last month came as negotiations were set to begin on the next phase of the ceasefire, which is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war

DEIR EL-BALAH, Palestinian Territories: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered negotiators on Saturday to return to Qatar to discuss the fragile ceasefire in the war with Hamas, after the fifth hostage-prisoner swap agreed under the truce was completed.
He repeated his vow to crush Hamas and free all remaining hostages, denouncing the militant group as “monsters” after the handover of three captives in Gaza who appeared emaciated and were forced to speak on a stage.
The hospital treating the three Israeli hostages released from Gaza on Saturday said Or Levy and Eli Sharabi were in a “poor medical condition,” while Ohad Ben Ami was in a “severe nutritional state.”
Of the 183 inmates released by Israel in return, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said seven required hospitalization and decried “brutality” and mistreatment in jail.
While 41 of those released returned to the West Bank city of Ramallah, four were released in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, 131 were sent to Gaza and seven were deported to Egypt.
The fifth exchange since the truce took effect last month came as negotiations were set to begin on the next phase of the ceasefire, which is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war.
But senior Hamas official Bassem Naim on Saturday said Israel’s “procrastination and lack of commitment in implementing the first phase... exposes this agreement to danger and thus it may stop or collapse.”
He also described, in an interview with AFP, the condition of the hostages as “acceptable under the difficult circumstances that the Gaza Strip was living.”
Saturday’s swap followed remarks by President Donald Trump suggesting the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip and clear out its inhabitants, sparking global outrage.
The three Israeli hostages, who were all seized by militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war, “crossed the border into Israeli territory” on Saturday, the Israeli military said.
With their return, 73 out of 251 hostages taken during the attack now remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Jubilant crowds in Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv cheered as they watched live footage of the hostages, flanked by masked gunmen, brought on stage in Deir el-Balah before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
But the joy at their release was quickly overtaken by concern for their condition, with all three appearing thin and pale.
Sharabi’s cousin Yochi Sardinayof said “he doesn’t look well.”
“I’m sure he will now receive the right treatment and he will get stronger... He has an amazing family, and we will all be there for him.”
The choreographed handover included forced statements from the three on stage, in which they stated support for finalizing the next phases of the Israel-Hamas truce.
The “disturbing images” from Gaza show that “we must get them all out,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group.
The ICRC meanwhile called on “all parties, including the mediators, to take responsibility to ensure that future releases are dignified and private.”
Sharabi, 52, and Ben Ami, a 56-year-old dual German citizen, were both abducted from their homes in kibbutz Beeri when militants stormed the small community near the Gaza border.
Sharabi lost his wife and two daughters in the attack.
Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival, where gunmen murdered his wife.
In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, relatives and supporters gathered to welcome inmates released by Israel, embracing them and cheering as they stepped off the bus that brought them from nearby Ofer prison.
But Fakhri Barghouti, 71, whose son was among the prisoners, told AFP that Israeli soldiers had stormed his home and beaten him, warning him not to celebrate his son’s release.
“They entered after midnight, smashed everything, took me into a side room, and beat me before leaving,” Barghouti told AFP.
“I was taken to the hospital, where it was found that I had a broken rib.”
The Israeli military said in a statement it had “conveyed messages that celebrations and processions in support of terrorism are prohibited during the release of the terrorists,” but did not give an immediate response when asked about Barghouti’s allegations.
Israel’s prison service said that “183 terrorists... were released” to the West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said “all the prisoners who were released today are in need of medical care... as a result of the brutality they were subjected” to in jail.
Hamas in a statement accused Israel of undertaking a “policy of... the slow killing of prisoners.”
Gaza militants have so far freed 21 hostages, including 16 Israelis in exchange for hundreds of mostly Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
Five Thai hostages freed last week from Gaza were discharged on Saturday from a hospital in central Israel, where they had been treated since their release, and were headed back to their home country.
The ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, aims to secure the release of 17 more hostages during the remainder of the 42-day first phase.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliation has killed at least 48,181 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.


Arab League reaffirms support for Jordan and Egypt, rejects displacement of Palestinians

Arab League reaffirms support for Jordan and Egypt, rejects displacement of Palestinians
Updated 09 February 2025
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Arab League reaffirms support for Jordan and Egypt, rejects displacement of Palestinians

Arab League reaffirms support for Jordan and Egypt, rejects displacement of Palestinians
  • Arab League's Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki reaffirmed the unity of the Arab position in rejecting displacement efforts

CAIRO: The Arab League on Saturday reiterated its firm stance against the displacement of Palestinians, warning that such actions undermined the Palestinian cause and regional stability.

Speaking in a televised interview on Saturday, the Arab League's Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki reaffirmed the unity of the Arab position in rejecting displacement efforts and expressed strong support for the Palestinians, as well as for Jordan and Egypt in their opposition to such moves.

Zaki emphasized that the Arab League was actively working to mobilize both regional and international support for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

He also underscored the organization's commitment to countering Israeli claims while reinforcing the principle of a two-state solution as the foundation for peace in the region.

The ambassador further revealed that discussions are ongoing regarding the possibility of convening an Arab summit to address the Palestinian issue.

While no date has been set, Zaki stressed that the matter remains a priority for the league.

The reaffirmation of Arab solidarity comes amid escalating tensions and renewed international focus on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with regional powers emphasizing the need for a just and lasting resolution, Jordan News Agency reported.


How Gaza displacement could deepen Egypt’s already unbearable refugee burden

How Gaza displacement could deepen Egypt’s already unbearable refugee burden
Updated 09 February 2025
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How Gaza displacement could deepen Egypt’s already unbearable refugee burden

How Gaza displacement could deepen Egypt’s already unbearable refugee burden
  • Host to refugees from Sudan, Syria, and elsewhere, Egypt faces new challenges as Trump proposes relocating Gazans
  • With inflation at 24.1 percent in December, experts warn more refugees would stretch Egypt’s economy and security

LONDON: Already host to almost 10 million migrants and refugees, Egypt now faces pressure to shelter hundreds of thousands of Gazans — a move Cairo deems unfair to the Palestinians and a potential threat to its economy and security.

US President Donald Trump has suggested that some 1.5 million people from the Palestinian enclave could be relocated to Egypt and Jordan — a plan that has met with opposition from both countries’ leaderships.

 

 

“Egypt views this proposal as an unacceptable liquidation of the Palestinian cause — something that neither Egyptians, Palestinians, nor other influential regional states would accept,” Hani Nasira, an Egyptian author and academic, told Arab News.

“It undermines the two-state solution and the peace agreements with Israel, which many regional countries have tied their engagement to.”

Beyond what this might mean for the Palestinians, Nasira also cited economic concerns for Egypt, especially if Gazans are not permitted to return. “Egypt hosts more than 9 million refugees and migrants who pose an economic burden and do not live in camps,” he said.

“Rather than treating displaced people as refugees or housing them in camps, Egypt has integrated them into society and considers them ‘guests,’ as President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has repeatedly stated.”

Sudanese brick makers work in an agricultural field in the capital Khartoum's district of Jureif Gharb on November 11, 2019. Egypt is home to more than 9 million foreign nationals who have fled conflict from their countries, and Egypt has integrated mnost of them into society and considers them ‘guests.’  (AFP)

Indeed, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has praised Egypt for its policy of placing displaced foreign nationals in host communities, “reflecting the government’s commitment to the Global Compact on Refugees’ principle of finding alternatives to camps.”

Egypt is a signatory to key international treaties defining refugee rights and state obligations, including the 1951 Refugee Convention, its 1967 Protocol, and the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention.

While official statistics show that Egypt hosts more than 9 million refugees and asylum-seekers, only 822,701 of them were registered with the UNHCR as of October. Access to many services typically requires being registered with the UNHCR or one of its partners.

REFUGEES & MIGRANTS IN EGYPT

• 4 million+ Sudanese

• 1.5 million+ Syrians

• 1million+ Yemenis

• 1 million+ Libyans

(Source: IOM)

According to UN figures, Egypt’s registered refugees originate from 59 nations, including Sudan, Syria, South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Somalia, and Iraq. As of October 2023, the Sudanese nationality was the largest group, followed by Syrians.

Sudan, which borders Egypt to the south, has been trapped in a state of conflict between rival military factions since April 2023, leading to one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes, displacing some 12 million people, both internally and externally.

In this photo taken on May 13, 2023, Sudanese fleeing war-torn Sudan are seen arriving at Qastal land port crossing between Egypt and Sudan. (AFP)

Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has devastated the capital Khartoum and other cities, shattering the nation’s health system and compounding outbreaks of once preventable diseases.

Domestic agriculture and supply chains have collapsed, leading to outbreaks of famine across the country. In Darfur and other areas, accounts of sexual violence and even genocide have emerged. Access issues and underfunding have hampered the humanitarian response.

Syria, meanwhile, has only recently emerged from more than a decade of civil war, which has displaced millions of refugees throughout the region and across the globe. Instability persists even after the toppling of the Bashar Assad regime, and swathes of the country remain in ruins.

This photo taken on January 4, 2018, shows Syrian refugees working at a restaurant in Egypt's second city of Alexandria. Egypt welcomed tens of thousands of people displaced since the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011. (AFP/File)

South Sudan and nations on the Horn of Africa have experienced some of the most extreme and least reported conflicts of recent years, including the Tigray war in Ethiopia, not to mention climate disasters including devastating floods and crippling drought.

Recent and ongoing conflicts in Libya, Yemen, and Iraq have likewise sent millions in search of safety and a route out of poverty in Egypt — already the Arab world’s most populous country — which has itself experienced instability and hardship.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said last year that Egypt hosted 40 percent of those fleeing Sudan, 1.5 million Syrian refugees since 2012, and expected to receive more Palestinians displaced from Gaza.

Since Israel mounted its military campaign in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, in retaliation for the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, nearly all of the enclave’s 2.2 million residents have been displaced from their homes at least once.

People fleeing from the Gaza Strip wait in the Egyptian part of the Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian enclave, on December 3, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (AFP)

As many as 100,000 Gazans managed to cross into Egypt before Israel captured the Rafah border crossing in May, according to Palestine’s Ambassador in Cairo Diab Al-Louh. Many lacked the documents needed to enroll children in school, open businesses, travel, or access health services.

Trump first floated the idea of relocating Gazans en masse on Jan. 25 and reiterated it the next day aboard Air Force One, saying he wanted the Palestinian enclave “just cleaned out” to start afresh after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was announced in mid-January.

On Feb. 4, he went even further, announcing plans for a US “takeover” of the Gaza Strip during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington D.C.

Demonstrators gather outside the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on January 31, 2025 to protest against a plan floated by US President Donald Trump to move Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan. (AFP)

Trump said he wanted the US to take a “long-term ownership position” and turn the Eastern Mediterranean territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” Palestinians could be resettled away from Gaza, “in areas where the leaders currently say no,” he said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had already expressed concerns about the strain Egypt’s refugee burden is placing on the national budget and host communities, citing insufficient international support amid the growing number of displaced people.

During a Jan. 27 meeting with heads of three UN agencies in Geneva, Abdelatty reiterated Egypt’s call for a fairer and more sustainable distribution of responsibility, urging the UN International Organization for Migration to help manage migrant flows and strengthen Egypt’s capacity to host those it already had.

On Jan. 28, Abdelatty told the Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights in Geneva that his country has shouldered a significant responsibility on behalf of the international community by hosting 10.7 million foreign nationals, including refugees and irregular migrants.

However, he said Egypt’s “capacity to accommodate and continue our efforts is at risk, especially given the insufficient international support relative to the pressures we are facing.”

Delegates pose for a group picture during a humanitarian conference for Gaza in Cairo on December 2, 2024, amid the continuing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

In April last year, Egypt’s Prime Minister Madbouly said hosting some 9 million refugees was costing his country approximately $10 billion per year, at a time when Egypt is grappling with its own economic crisis, despite receiving financial assistance from the EU, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and others to help stave off collapse.

Egypt’s revenues from the Suez Canal dropped by more than 60 percent in 2024, amounting to a $7 billion loss compared to the previous year, President El-Sisi said in a December statement. The loss was primarily driven by regional tensions, including attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen.

Egypt’s economy is also struggling with a high inflation rate, which stood at 24.1 percent in December, according to Trading Economics.

A young boy delivers freshly-baked bread in the al-Darb al-Ahmar district in the old quarters of Cairo on May 28, 2024. 

Economic repercussions are not the sole concern surrounding plans to relocate Gazans to Egypt. Officials believe the move may also threaten the security of the country and the wider region.

El-Sisi told a press conference on Jan. 29 that the transfer of Palestinians “can never be tolerated or allowed because of its impact on Egyptian national security.”

Egyptian academic Nasira said that implementing Trump’s proposal “could shift the conflict onto Egyptian soil and across the Middle East.”

Tanks stand on guard along the Egyptian side near the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025. Egyptians fear that Trump’s proposal to relocate Gazans to Egypt “could shift the conflict onto Egyptian soil and across the Middle East.” (AFP)

Two days before El-Sisi’s statement, Parliament Speaker Hanafy El-Gebaly warned that relocating Gaza’s residents “may impede efforts to maintain the current truce and reach a permanent ceasefire” and risk “transferring the conflict to other territories, with disastrous repercussions for the entire region.”

Nasira said Cairo considers the relocation a threat to its national security, “as it could destabilize the Suez Canal the Sinai Peninsula, which was contested in multiple wars, the most recent in October 1973,” and “fuel further extremism in Egypt and the broader region.”

Echoing Cairo’s concerns, several influential Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, also warned that such plans “threaten the region’s stability, risk expanding the conflict, and undermine prospects for peace and coexistence among its peoples.”

Cairo fears that relocating Palestinians from Gaza — along with Hamas and other militant groups — could unravel the Camp David Accords, brokered in 1978 by US President Jimmy Carter between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (R) is seen with his supporters in Beirut during the early days of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. (AFP)

Palestinian militant groups could ignite future wars on Egyptian territory — much like in 1970s Lebanon, when Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization turned the southern part of the country into a launchpad for attacks on Israel.

Shortly after the Gaza war began, El-Sisi warned a mass exodus of Palestinians into Egypt’s Sinai could wreck the 1978 peace deal, turning the region into “a base for attacks on Israel,” prompting Israel to “strike Egyptian territory.”

He said: “The peace which we have achieved would vanish from our hands. All for the sake of the idea of eliminating the Palestinian cause.”
 

 


Trade mission from Philippines to arrive in Jordan to strengthen economic ties

Trade mission from Philippines to arrive in Jordan to strengthen economic ties
Updated 08 February 2025
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Trade mission from Philippines to arrive in Jordan to strengthen economic ties

Trade mission from Philippines to arrive in Jordan to strengthen economic ties
  • Delegation set to arrive on Sunday

AMMAN: A delegation of 13 Philippine companies and senior officials will arrive in Jordan on Sunday as part of a business, trade, and investment mission aimed at deepening economic cooperation between the two nations.

The mission, scheduled for Feb. 11-12 in Amman, will see the Philippine delegation engage with 39 Jordanian companies in efforts to boost bilateral trade and investment, the Jordan News Agency reported.

Speaking at a joint press conference alongside Philippine Trade Commissioner Vichael Angelo Roaring from the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Dubai, Wilfredo C. Santos, Philippine ambassador to Jordan, reaffirmed Manila’s commitment to fostering stronger economic ties with Jordan.

Santos said: “The Philippines, as one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, seeks to expand its global presence by forging strategic partnerships. Our robust sectors in food, agriculture, manufacturing, and creative industries align well with Jordan’s strategic location, its safety and security as an oasis of peace in this region, and its investment-friendly environment.”

The ambassador also highlighted that the delegation — which will include representatives from the Philippine Department of Agriculture, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the PTIC in Dubai — reflected the country’s dedication to expanding its footprint in Jordan’s market and building long-term partnerships with local businesses.

He expressed confidence that the visit would serve as a “springboard for elevated bilateral trade levels and facilitate meaningful business exchanges.”

Santos also acknowledged Jordan’s Filipino community, numbering around 48,000, praising their contributions and the care they received in the country.

Roaring officially announced the launch of the Philippine Outbound Business Matching Mission to Jordan, describing it as a strategic initiative to strengthen trade relations and create new market opportunities for Filipino exporters in the Middle East.

Roaring said: “Jordan is a valued trading partner and a gateway for Filipino companies seeking regional expansion.”

He added that the delegation would include Filipino exporters specializing in food, beverages, and personal care products.

A key element of the visit will be a business-to-business matching session on Feb. 11, hosted by the Amman Chamber of Commerce, at which Filipino exporters will engage directly with Jordanian industry players to explore trade and investment opportunities.

Roaring added: “This mission is more than just trade: It is about building long-term partnerships and expanding business opportunities in Jordan and beyond. With the continued support of our partners, we look forward to turning discussions into concrete trade deals that benefit both our nations.”