Egypt and Hamas locked in row as Gaza's plight grows more desperate

Hamas accuses Cairo, which acts as mediator in ceasefire efforts, of not doing enough to help Palestinians in the enclave

Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped into Zawaida in central Gaza Strip. AP

Egypt and Hamas are locked in a bitter public row over humanitarian aid for Gaza, with the militant group questioning Cairo's claims it is doing everything it can to help Palestinians in the war-battered strip.

The row comes as Egypt's government faces rising pressure at home to do more to alleviate widespread hunger in Gaza, with pro-Palestinian activists and ordinary Egyptians using social media to urge authorities to reopen the country's Rafah border crossing, the enclave's only exit and entry point not controlled by Israel.

Egypt is among several countries that have begun air drops of food into Gaza amid warnings from the UN and aid agencies that the population is facing famine-like conditions after months of Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid.

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President Abdel Fattah El Sisi made a surprise televised address to the nation on Monday to assure Egyptians their government was doing everything it could for the Palestinians. He said sending humanitarian aid through Rafah had to be co-ordinated in advance with Israel, which has occupied the Palestinian side of Egypt's border with Gaza since May last year.

Sources said Cairo's relations with Hamas became increasingly strained after Egypt and other Arab nations called on the militant group to disarm and end its now tenuous rule over the Gaza Strip and help bring an end to the war.

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The rift has potentially far-reaching ramifications for the region, as well as for Egypt's uneasy relations with the group, and the long-running Gaza truce negotiations in which Cairo is a mediator and has often been seen to be taking Hamas's side. Qatar and the US are Egypt's partners in the mediation.

Egypt's mediation to end Hamas's past wars with Israel has brought Cairo and the Palestinian group closer despite its zero-tolerance policy at home for Islamist groups and Hamas's designation as a terrorist group by the US and European Union, two of Egypt's largest trade partners and donors.

The dispute is expected to be welcomed by Israel, which insists Hamas is to blame for the starvation in Gaza because it allegedly commandeers aid entering the strip for its own use or to sell for profit.

Hamas denies the accusation and claims Israel is engineering the attacks on and looting of aid lorries to starve the Palestinians and discredit the group.

A boy waits to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza city. Reuters

The first salvo in the row came from Hamas's aid arm – the Central Emergency Committee – which said Egypt's account of its aid efforts for Gaza was "essentially an excuse to cover its negligence in assuming a humanitarian, moral and Arab duty towards Gaza".

The statement, parts of which adopted a mocking tone, added: "It's time that Egypt, with all its weight and prestige, shift away from the logic of 'neutral mediation' to a decisive moral position on the side of Gaza."

The accusations were repeated by Khalil Al Hayah, one of Hamas's senior figures and its chief ceasefire negotiator.

Writing on the group's Telegram account, he said: "People of Egypt, its leaders, army, clans, tribes, scientists, Al Azhar, churches and elite: Will you let your brothers in Gaza die of hunger when they are near you across the border?"

Egypt's government has yet to publicly respond to Hamas's accusations, leaving the task for its loyal television talk show hosts.

Ahmed Moussa, perhaps the most vocal among them, responded on Wednesday. He cited the millions of dollars he said Egypt has spent on humanitarian aid for Gaza and on treating the territory's wounded Palestinians since the war began.

Alluding to the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023 which sparked the war, Mr Moussa blamed the militant group for "the destruction of the Palestinian cause and the genocide of Palestinians".

"You destroyed Gaza and we are saving Gaza," he said, addressing Mr Al Hayah by name and making the first such accusation by an Egyptian media figure.

The sources said Egyptian mediators and Mr Al Hayah clashed several times over the issue during the latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar, which collapsed last week.

Palestinians mourn outside the morgue at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city on Thursday. AFP

Egypt has meanwhile sent stern warnings to Hamas's leadership to desist from any more criticism of its handling of the Gaza war, the sources said. A Hamas delegation is expected in Cairo this week, they said, without giving details.

They said Israel and Hamas were at an impasse in negotiations, with Hamas refusing to compromise on its demand for the release of more than 2,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, including nearly 300 who are serving long jail terms.

Israel counters that the number is too high and refuses to release some of the high-profile Palestinians who Hamas wants to freed, the sources said.

They said Hamas was also insisting on amending the terms of Israeli redeployment inside Gaza under a proposed 60-day truce, although the changes are mostly minor, involving no more than 200 metres in some cases.

"Hamas is left with very little to use as leverage now that the war is nearly two years old," said one of the sources. "It is essentially fighting for its very existence."

Hamas and Egypt have had rollercoaster relations since the 2000s, with Egypt accusing the group of aiding extremists fighting its security forces in the Sinai Peninsula and illegally entering the country to support the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood during the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt has also destroyed a network of underground tunnels that ran beneath the Egypt-Gaza border that Hamas used to reduce the impact of Israel's blockade of the territory that began in 2007. Gaza's Hamas government had relied heavily on taxes levied on commercial goods entering the enclave through the tunnels.