White House Officials Meeting with Egypt and Israel to Discuss Reopening Rafah

The White House is set to hold a meeting in Cairo next week with U.S., Egyptian, and Israeli officials to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing and a plan for border security between Egypt and Gaza, according to sources cited by Axios.

The meeting comes after a phone call between President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi last Friday, during which Sisi agreed to resume aid truck deliveries to Gaza via Israel, as reported by Politico. Egypt had previously halted deliveries in protest of Israel’s control of the Rafah crossing.

Biden reportedly warned Sisi that the U.S. would publicly criticize Egypt if aid deliveries were not resumed, and offered to work on reopening the Rafah crossing as soon as the deliveries resumed, according to an official speaking to Axios.

One of the key topics of discussion at the meeting will be how to reopen the Rafah crossing without Israeli military presence on the Palestinian side, Axios noted.

Under a proposed plan by Israel, the IDF would redeploy outside of the crossing to secure it from the outside against potential Hamas attacks, Axios mentioned.

In addition, the U.S. wants to address arms smuggling by constructing an anti-tunnel underground “wall” along the Egypt-Gaza border, officials told Axios.

The U.S. is also pushing for Egypt to take on a greater role in Gaza security alongside other Arab countries, with the aim of securing the border, providing humanitarian aid, and training a new Palestinian security force, Axios reported.