Egyptian, US and Israeli officials are due to meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss reopening the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip nearly a month after its closure, according to an Egyptian TV station.
Citing a high-level source, state-linked al-Qahera News TV reported Saturday that Egypt insists on Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Palestinian side of the crossing.
“Egypt has confirmed to all parties its constant stance based on non-opening of the Rafah crossing so long as Israel keeps its control of its Palestinian side,” the source said.
The level of representation at the reported meeting was not immediately clear.
On May 7, Israel took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, in an operation that halted aid deliveries via the vital facility into the heavily populated coastal strip.
Since the closure of the crossing, Egypt has indicated it will not coordinate aid transports through Rafah until the Israeli forces withdraw.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. But the ongoing military campaign in Gaza has inflamed anti-Israeli sentiment in the Arab world’s most populous nation, putting their decades-old ties at risk.
Cairo is also concerned that an expansion of the Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, packed by refugees fleeing the fighting, could trigger a mass exodus into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Israel deems Rafah the last stronghold of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which killed hundreds of civilians in Israel last October.