Egypt calls for truce as Biden, Sisi discuss aid to Gaza in Sunday phone call

During a phone call on Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and United States President Joe Biden discussed the importance of increasing and accelerating aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip.

Both presidents ruled out the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt, and discussed the potential escalation of the Israel-Hamas war into a regional conflict.

Sisi and Biden’s call took place as the Israeli government continues its relentless onslaught on Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinian residents, following Hamas’ unprecedented military operation against Israel on October 7. So far, Israel’s offensive has killed over 8,000 people and wounded more than 21,000 in the Gaza Strip, according to the latest data published by the Palestinian Health Ministry on Monday. 

Biden expressed his “appreciation for Egypt’s leading role in efforts to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of Gaza,” according to the White House readout of the Sunday call.

Both presidents agreed on “exerting intensive efforts to increase aid in a tangible, effective and sustainable manner and in quantities that meet the needs of the people in the Strip,” according to the Egyptian presidential spokesperson. Similarly, the White House’s statement said that both leaders are “committed to the significant acceleration and increase of assistance into Gaza, beginning today and then continuously.”

The US thanked Egypt for the key role it has played in facilitating aid deliveries to Gaza, with supplies passing via the Rafah border crossing, which connects Egypt to Palestine. 

Yet after almost three weeks into the conflict, just over 80 trucks of food, medical supplies and water were reported to have reached Gaza by Monday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said, noting that a humanitarian crisis is quickly escalating in the Strip. Aside from the 80 trucks, Gaza has been cut off from all food, water, fuel and medical supplies since the onset of the war. Agencies have said that the pace of deliveries is far too slow in comparison to the need in Gaza, with the World Food Programme saying it would need to deliver 40 trucks per day to meet the need for food alone.  

Aid deliveries were delayed for the first weeks of the war, with Israel targeting the border facilities at the Rafah crossing in four airstrikes. Israel has also insisted on a set of conditions that are constraining aid deliveries, including security checks, which are currently being carried out 45 km south of Rafah before being allowed in. Additionally, Israel has completely ruled out crucial deliveries of fuel, without which Gaza’s hospitals, bakeries and desalination plants can’t operate. 

Though both presidents appeared to agree on Sunday, it is unclear how Egypt and the US are going to hasten aid deliveries to Gaza. While Egypt’s presidential press readout of Sunday’s phone call stated that Egypt is in favor of “an immediate humanitarian truce” to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid, the US statement made no mention of a ceasefire agreement.

A resolution for a humanitarian pause at the United Nations Security Council was vetoed by the US on October 18. The US also voted against a resolution for a humanitarian pause to the conflict to facilitate aid deliveries at the UN General Assembly. 

During the Sunday call, Sisi also “underscored Egypt’s firm position of rejecting the policies of collective punishment and displacement,” according the press readout published by the Egyptian presidency, with Sisi reiterating “that Egypt has not and will never allow the displacement of the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egyptian territories.” The US press readout likewise stated that the two presidents discussed “ensuring that Palestinians in Gaza are not displaced to Egypt or any other nation.”

At the outset of the war, several Israeli officials suggested that Palestinians should leave Gaza and move to Egypt, a proposition that has been floated for years by members of the Israeli political establishment as part of a “solution” for Gaza. Officials in Egypt have decisively rejected the proposal. 

In a televised national address, Sisi stated two weeks ago that if Israel wants to displace Palestinians, it can do so in Israeli-held land. He also stated that displacing Palestinians into Egypt would make Egypt a launching pad for resistance against Israel, and could legitimate Israel striking Egyptian territory as part of its “right to self-defense.” 

The impact of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip has already been felt in Egypt. Israeli forces acknowledged on October 22 that a tank had “accidentally” opened fire, striking a watchtower belonging to the Egyptian Border Guard Corps in Rafah, injuring nine Egyptians. The Egyptian Armed Forces spokesperson likewise said that the watchtower was “accidentally hit” by fragments from a shell fired by an Israeli tank amid the ongoing “clashes” in the Gaza Strip.