The White House will host a meeting with American, Egyptian, and Israeli officials in Cairo next week to discuss reopening the Rafah crossing and a plan for securing the border between Egypt and Gaza, three U.S. and Israeli officials told Axios.
The trip was arranged during a phone call between President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi last Friday. El-Sissi agreed to resume the flow of aid trucks into Gaza through Israel, Politico reported. Egypt had previously halted deliveries to protest Israel taking over the Rafah crossing.
Biden told el-Sissi the U.S. would publicly criticize Egypt if the delivery of aid trucks wasn't resumed and if Egypt did resume deliveries, the U.S. would work to reopen the Rafah crossing as soon as possible, an official told Axios.
A key issue at the meeting will be developing a plan for how to reopen the Rafah crossing without Israeli military presence on the Palestinian side of the crossing, Axios reported.
As part of a plan proposed by Israel, the IDF would redeploy outside of the crossing and secure it from the outside against Hamas attacks, according to Axios.
The U.S. also wants to discuss curbing arms smuggling by building an anti-tunnel underground "wall" on the border between Egypt and Gaza, officials told Axios.
The U.S. wants Egypt to take on more of a role in security in Gaza along with other Arab countries, officials said to Axios. The security force would help secure the border, supply humanitarian aid, and train a new Palestinian security force, Axios reported.
Sam Barron ✉
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