Egypt has postponed its decision to appoint a new ambassador to Israel after tensions between the two countries escalated over Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza, which has created a deep rift in diplomatic relations.
Sources in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told that the government will continue to suspend the high-level diplomatic mission in Tel Aviv due to Israel’s intense operations in Gaza and its refusal to withdraw from the Rafah border area.
Egypt has not had an ambassador in Israel since September of last year, when former envoy Khaled Azmi resigned and returned to Cairo. Tarek Dahrouj, the head of the ministry’s Libyan affairs desk, was reportedly under consideration for the role, but has instead been appointed as Egypt’s next ambassador to France.
Cairo has also delayed the accreditation of Israel’s new ambassador-designate, Uri Rothman. Rothman, who replaced Amira Oron (formerly head of the Middle East bureau of the Israeli Foreign Ministry) when her term ended in September, has now waited eight months without being officially recognized. Egyptian officials have previously cited Israel’s decision to break the ceasefire with Hamas and the resulting mass exodus from Gaza as key factors behind the delay.
Relations between Egypt and Israel have plunged to their lowest point in decades, with tensions rising, particularly over Israel’s recent military takeover of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border between Egypt and Gaza, a move Cairo sees as a violation of the Camp David peace accords.
Despite maintaining formal diplomatic ties throughout the 19-month conflict, Egypt has issued repeated warnings, including threats to suspend the agreement altogether. According to unconfirmed reports, more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began.
In a significant diplomatic move, Egypt joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice earlier this year. Concerns in Cairo have also been fueled by suggestions that Israel aims to push Gaza’s 2.2 million people into Egyptian territory, a scenario President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has roundly rejected as a national security red line.
Israeli officials have accused Egypt of violating the peace agreement by increasing its military activities in Sinai and helping smuggle arms into Gaza. Israeli media have also expressed concern about Egypt’s recent acquisition of Chinese military equipment, further highlighting the deepening distrust between the two neighbors.