Year-old Gaza conflict takes toll on neighboring Egypt

Cairo — 

The warfare unleashed by Israel aft the Hamas-led onslaught connected Israel connected October 7, 2023, has ravaged not lone the radical of Gaza but besides taken a toll connected neighboring Egypt, keeping its authorities officials engaged and straining its system -- portion besides bringing immoderate benefits.

The struggle has spawned countless hours of diplomatic enactment and a agelong database of visits by envoys from respective countries. Mediation efforts person been unsuccessful, but the struggle has kept diplomats busy, with meetings of the Cairo-based Arab League and consultations involving Egypt, Qatar and the U.S., among others.

Said Sadek, prof of bid studies and quality rights astatine the Egypt-Japan University successful Alexandria, told VOA Egypt has been 1 of the cardinal players successful mediation efforts betwixt Israel and Hamas. He said its efforts person been palmy astatine times and unsuccessful astatine others.

"Politically (the conflict) highlighted the Egyptian relation successful being a moderating unit successful the Middle East," helium said. "In each the negotiations that took spot aboriginal connected betwixt Hamas and Israel, they ever needed a mediator, and it was Egypt and Qatar and the United States. And they each played a relation successful that and sometimes they succeeded and sometimes they failed."

The caput of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel, spent galore hours mediating betwixt Israel and Hamas, arsenic has U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatar's overseas minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al Thani.

Economically, the Gaza struggle has caused superior harm to the Egyptian economy, but it has besides brought benefits, arsenic Washington-based Middle East expert Paul Sullivan pointed out.

"Egypt is being squeezed betwixt galore rocks and galore hard places, with a fewer affirmative bits of light," helium said. "Those affirmative bits see wealth flows from the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the World Bank and others, to marque definite that Egypt gets a spot much stabilized economically."

Sadek and Sullivan some hold the Egyptian system suffered setbacks from the broadside effects of the Gaza conflict, including a monolithic driblet successful gross from the Suez Canal, 1 of the Egyptian government's superior sources of income.

"The (Houthis) successful Yemen blocked harmless navigation crossed the Red Sea and that affected the Suez Canal that utilized to bring Egypt astir $10 cardinal dollars," said Sadek. "Now we are getting lone $3 billion, truthful determination is simply a large nonaccomplishment of 70%."

Sullivan said Egypt is not lone suffering from a nonaccomplishment of gross from the Suez Canal owed to ships going astir the Horn of Africa to get to their destinations, but it is besides successful information of a earthy state shortage "if Israel were to chopped disconnected its state exports to Egypt."

That would unit the Egyptian authorities to import earthy state astatine considerably higher prices.

Egyptians are already reeling. The authorities has raised the prices of petroleum and earthy state doubly this twelvemonth by arsenic overmuch arsenic 15% each time. Egypt's wide ostentation complaint has deed 25%, with analysts blaming the leap mostly connected the warfare successful Gaza.

Tourism revenues are besides down owed to the Gaza struggle and immoderate Western countries person warned their citizens not to question to Egypt oregon different Middle Eastern countries.