Inside Cairo’s ‘safety first’ calculus on the March to Gaza

Discover key highlights within the DeFi house. This article dives into: “Inside Cairo’s ‘security first’ calculus on the March to Gaza”.

The Egyptian authorities was cautious and on edge final week after a land convoy of at the very least 1,500 pro-Palestinian activists and multiple hundred autos crossed into Libya from Tunisia on June 10 en path to war-torn Gaza. The caravan was meant to pile strain on Israel to carry its help blockade on the besieged enclave, and to attract consideration to the worsening humanitarian disaster there.  

In latest days, scores of pro-Palestinian activists—together with a gaggle of forty Algerians and two French nationals—have been reportedly barred from entry into Egypt and deported shortly after their arrival at Cairo International Airport regardless of having obtained visas. Hundreds of different campaigners planning to take part within the march have been attacked on June 14 close to a checkpoint within the north-eastern metropolis of Ismailia, the place that they had gathered to attend for a nod of approval from the authorities to journey on to el-Arish. The space between el-Arish and Rafah is classed as a navy zone and stays off limits to vacationers with out prior safety permits.  

Cairo’s strikes to discourage the march to Gaza are baffling to many as a result of the worldwide initiative expressing solidarity with Gaza is in keeping with Egypt’s declared place on Gaza. So why is Cairo resorting to extreme measures to nip the motion within the bud?     

An worldwide activist coalition

Organizers, comprising a mix of regional volunteers and worldwide teams in opposition to Israeli occupation, stated they have been taking issues into their very own arms “because Arab governments haven’t pushed enough” to finish the warfare between Israel and Hamas.  

The regional-based “Soumoud” (Steadfastness or Resilience in Arabic) Caravan—comprising volunteers from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Libya—was supported by varied Tunisian civil society teams and rights organizations, together with the Tunisian Labor Union and National Bar Association. The activists who began their protest journey in Tunis on June 9, had been planning to journey alongside the Libyan coast and cross into Egypt although the nation’s northwestern Saloum border, earlier than trekking the Sinai to el-Arish to hitch different worldwide activists on a Global March to the Rafah border crossing—a significant entry level into southern Gaza the place a sit-in had been deliberate June 15 to 19.

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The second worldwide march, organized by the Global Coalition Against the Occupation of Palestine—a coalition of rights teams, commerce unions, and solidarity actions from over thirty-two nations—mobilized 1000’s of rights campaigners from greater than fifty nations to take part within the rally.

More than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed for the reason that begin of Israel’s warfare on Gaza following the October 7, 2023, Hamas assaults, and far of the enclave’s 2.1 million individuals have confronted the menace of famine beneath Israel’s suffocating blockade. Israel says it’s blocking help to place strain on Hamas to launch the remaining hostages nonetheless held in Gaza.

A press release launched by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry on June 11 welcomed international delegations however cautioned that anybody touring to Sinai should acquire prior authorities permission and adjust to Gaza border regulations.

Organizers of the Steadfastness Convoy, in the meantime, stated that they had met with the Egyptian ambassador in Tunis previous to their departure to coordinate their entry into the nation however had since acquired no phrase from the embassy. This was regardless of additionally sending an official letter to the embassy requesting help from the Egyptian authorities for his or her mission.

But Cairo was skeptical and made it clear that it opposed the march.

Egyptian opposition

Cairo doesn’t want to provoke the ire of the Israeli authorities, which has made clear it’s against any mass mobilization at Rafah. If the Egyptian management had given the march the inexperienced mild to proceed, the transfer would have definitely escalated tensions between Egypt and Israel, and subsequently, between Cairo and Washington. Worse nonetheless, it might have brought about instability on the border if Israel had attacked the march. 

Israel Katz, Israel’s protection minister, made his nation’s place clear when he publicly known as on Egypt to dam the Steadfastness Convoy. Katz stated, “I expect the Egyptian authorities to prevent the arrival of Jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border and not to allow them to carry out provocations or attempt to enter Gaza.” 

However, there are additionally inner elements behind Cairo’s resolution, foremost amongst them being the authorities’ worry of Egyptian protesters becoming a member of the international contributors. Many Egyptians watching the scenes of bloodshed from Gaza over the previous twenty-one months are ashamed of their very own helplessness and their authorities’s failure to cease the warfare. Their frustration and despair might spark a brand new wave of unrest which will show troublesome to include. 

The Egyptian authorities has cracked down on protests of any type, criminalizing demonstrations held with out prior authorization from the inside ministry. At a time of rising home discontent over hovering costs of meals, gas, and primary commodities, the authorities worry any mass mobilization, as protesters could find yourself directing their anger on the authorities, prompting renewed turmoil and political instability.

Cairo did, nonetheless, enable a uncommon however small pro-Palestinian protest to be held exterior the Journalists Syndicate on June 12, presumably to permit pro-Palestinian activists to let off steam. Alternatively, the rally might have been a check balloon by the federal government to gauge the extent of public anger over the Gaza warfare. Mahienour el-Masry, a rights lawyer who took half within the rally, stated the protesters known as on the federal government to permit the solidarity convoys to journey to the Rafah border crossing; in addition they known as for the crossing to be opened to permit help to enter Gaza.   

Some authorities loyalists within the media painted the solidarity convoys as a ploy meant to embarrass Egypt and implement Israel and Washington’s plan of displacing Palestinians. They questioned why the activists had chosen to journey to Gaza by way of Egyptian land as a substitute of sea. Others warned that the convoys are a menace to Egypt’s nationwide safety. The convoys additionally stirred controversy on social media with some web customers suggesting that Islamists organized the Steadfastness caravan in a bid to sow dissent in Egypt, and others shared movies of a few of the convoy’s contributors lambasting the Egyptian president for not permitting the convoys to go via.

Major General Samir Farag, a navy strategist and former Head of the Armed Forces Morale Affairs Department, informed me that a few of the activists had obtained vacationer visas previous to their arrival in Egypt however had not disclosed their plan to take part within the march to Gaza.

Farag stated, “Egypt has enough internal problems; we don’t need more challenges. We don’t know who these activists are or what they are bringing into the country. The march should have been coordinated with the authorities beforehand.”  

While the convoy’s passage via Western Libya has been easy, traversing jap Libya—which is beneath the command of General Khalifa Haftar—proved tougher. On June 12, Haftar’s safety forces stopped the caravan in Sirte, demanding extra safety clearances earlier than it was allowed passage to Benghazi. Phone traces and web companies have been minimize off within the space, leaving the protesters incommunicado. The strikes have been possible at Cairo’s behest—Egypt has been a staunch supporter of Haftar, who shares Cairo’s anti-Islamist stance. 

Yasmine Hamrouni, a spokesperson for the Steadfastness Caravan, lastly returned my calls on June 17. She informed me that the activists had determined to return to Tunisia after it grew to become clear they might not be granted entry to Benghazi or Egypt. Both the Libyan National Army and the Egyptian authorities had joined forces to dam the march to Rafah.  

Even if the marchers had gotten clearance from the Egyptian authorities, the Israeli Defense Forces would have possible thwarted their efforts.  Eight of the twelve activists who have been on board the Madeleine Freedom Flotilla, which had additionally tried to interrupt the siege on Gaza, stay in detention in Israel, their destiny unsure. Israel deported the remaining 4 activists.

Like the Freedom Flotilla, the Global March too has been stopped in its tracks. Both makes an attempt, nonetheless, sign that  worldwide strain is mounting on Israel to interrupt its blockade on Gaza, described by United Nations spokesperson, Jens Laerke, as “the hungriest place on earth.” 

Whether or not Israel will bow to worldwide strain and alleviate the widespread shortages of meals, gas, and primary commodities will largely rely on neighboring nations, particularly Egypt’s willingness to cooperate with worldwide rights campaigners. For now, it seems that the Egyptian management will not be taking any possibilities and won’t hesitate to resort to violence to dam “any attempts to destabilize the country.”

As Farag insisted to me: “Egypt’s security comes first.”

Shahira Amin is a nonresident senior fellow on the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, specializing in Egypt, economics, power, water entry, and girls’s points.

Further studying

Image: A younger pro-Palestinian girl waves the Palestinian flag whereas shouting slogans throughout a march organized by civil society, feminist, and human rights organizations, together with Amnesty International and the Tunisian League of Human Rights (LTDH), in Tunis, Tunisia, on June 15, 2025. The march brings collectively dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in help of the worldwide actions, the Global March to Gaza and the Maghreb Resilience Convoy. These humanitarian actions goal to go in direction of the Rafah border crossing in Egypt to carry the blockade of Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing warfare within the enclave. Demonstrators additionally name for the criminalization of all normalization of relations with Israel whereas expressing help for the Palestinian resistance. The Global March to Gaza is a civilian-led worldwide initiative, scheduled to start on June 15, 2025, aiming to march from Arish, Egypt, to the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip in Palestine. Two days earlier, tons of of contributors within the Global March to Gaza arriving in Cairo have their passports taken at a checkpoint and are detained and deported to their dwelling nations in Europe and North Africa. (Photo by Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)NO USE FRANCE

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