Egypt exerts leverage over Israel by threatening to cancel Camp David Accord: Israeli Newspaper

CAIRO - 10 May 2024: Egyptian officials informed US Center Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns, who was on a visit to Egypt, that the United States must exert serious pressure on Israel to push it to end its operation in the Palestinian Rafah and return to negotiations seriously. Otherwise, Egypt will work to cancel the Camp David Accord, Israeli newspaper Maariv reported on Friday.

The newspaper added that following heightened media pressure from Egyptian agencies calling for the cancellation of the Camp David Accords, Israeli officials initiated contact with their Egyptian counterparts to ascertain the nature, extent, and significance of these demands.

Furthermore, it was conveyed that the Egyptian side informed the Americans that the threat to terminate the agreement is part of Egyptian leverage on Israel, and that the agreement will not be fundamentally affected.

Maariv also reported that Egypt, for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, instructed aid truck drivers to vacate the Rafah crossing area from the Egyptian side, while concurrently bolstering security measures there possibly due to concerns over deteriorating security conditions in the border region.

A high-level source said Egypt’s wisdom in managing the Gaza ceasefire negotiations will not stop it from protecting its national security by all means.

As reported by Extra News on Friday, the source highlighted the significant progress achieved by Egyptian efforts in the past weeks during the ceasefire negotiations.

The latest round of talks, which took place in Cairo earlier this week with the participation of mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, concluded without a truce agreement.

Points of contention between Hamas and Israel persist as Hamas insists on demanding a permanent cessation of hostilities, while Israel has rejected this demand.

Israel seeks a period of truce that includes the release of its surviving hostages from Gaza, without signaling an end to the conflict with Hamas.

The international community, including the mediators, opposes a large-scale Israeli operation in Rafah.

On Monday, Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal put forward by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, but Israeli tanks stormed Rafah shortly after, and the Israeli government declared that the proposal did not meet its conditions.