American and Israeli officials revealed the reasons for what they considered a "failure" of the recent meeting in Cairo with the Egyptian side regarding the reopening of the Rafah crossing. The Israeli news site "Walla" quoted a senior Israeli official stating that "the discussions in Cairo (on Sunday) regarding the Rafah crossing were extremely difficult and harsh and ended without an agreement." One American official reported that "there was a lot of frustration and disappointment from both the Egyptian and Israeli sides during the meeting in Cairo."
A senior Israeli official indicated that "Tel Aviv and Washington presented information during the meeting regarding the number of tunnels they claim exist under the border between Egypt and Gaza, and requested Cairo to destroy them to prevent the smuggling of weapons to Hamas." Senior Israeli officials said that "in response, the Egyptians were self-satisfied and tried to downplay the seriousness of the situation."
Additionally, the site quoted senior Israeli and American officials saying that "the meeting ended in failure, after the two sides could not agree on terms for integrating Palestinian elements in the crossing, as the Israeli side rejected any participation by the Palestinian Authority in the operation of this strategic site." Senior American officials noted that "reopening the Rafah crossing could be the first step in a broader strategy for the post-war phase to achieve stability and rebuild Gaza."
The Cairo meeting followed a phone call two weeks earlier between President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Egypt has been refusing to engage with Israel, which has controlled the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing for weeks, leading to the disruption of aid flowing through it. The Israeli site reported that "El-Sisi agreed during the call to Biden's request to resume the transfer of aid trucks to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, after shipments had been halted two weeks ago in protest against the Israeli military's control of the Palestinian side of Rafah."
The Biden administration views Gaza as part of a future Palestinian state and wants the Palestinian Authority to play a role in its administration post-war, contrary to Israel's wishes. According to "Walla," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has explicitly rejected any intervention by the Palestinian Authority in Gaza in nearly every meeting with senior American officials in recent months.
