Year-old Gaza conflict takes toll on neighboring Egypt

Cairo — The war unleashed by Israel after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has ravaged not only the people of Gaza but also taken a toll on neighboring Egypt, keeping its government officials busy and straining its economy -- while also bringing some benefits.

The conflict has spawned countless hours of diplomatic activity and a long list of visits by envoys from several countries. Mediation efforts have been unsuccessful, but the conflict has kept diplomats busy, with meetings of the Cairo-based Arab League and consultations involving Egypt, Qatar and the U.S., among others.

Said Sadek, professor of peace studies and human rights at the Egypt-Japan University in Alexandria, told VOA Egypt has been one of the key players in mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas. He said its efforts have been successful at times and unsuccessful at others.

"Politically (the conflict) highlighted the Egyptian role in being a moderating force in the Middle East," he said. "In all the negotiations that took place later on between Hamas and Israel, they always needed a mediator, and it was Egypt and Qatar and the United States. And they all played a role in that and sometimes they succeeded and sometimes they failed."

The head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel, spent many hours mediating between Israel and Hamas, as has U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatar's foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al Thani.

Economically, the Gaza conflict has caused serious damage to the Egyptian economy, but it has also brought benefits, as Washington-based Middle East analyst Paul Sullivan pointed out.

"Egypt is being squeezed between many rocks and many hard places, with a few positive bits of light," he said. "Those positive bits include money flows from the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the World Bank and others, to make sure that Egypt gets a bit more stabilized economically."

Sadek and Sullivan both agree the Egyptian economy suffered setbacks from the side effects of the Gaza conflict, including a massive drop in revenue from the Suez Canal, one of the Egyptian government's primary sources of income.

"The (Houthis) in Yemen blocked safe navigation across the Red Sea and that affected the Suez Canal that used to bring Egypt about $10 billion dollars," said Sadek. "Now we are getting only $3 billion, so there is a big loss of 70%."

Sullivan said Egypt is not only suffering from a loss of revenue from the Suez Canal due to ships going around the Horn of Africa to get to their destinations, but it is also in danger of a natural gas shortage "if Israel were to cut off its gas exports to Egypt."

That would force the Egyptian government to import natural gas at considerably higher prices.

Egyptians are already reeling. The government has raised the prices of petroleum and natural gas twice this year by as much as 15% each time. Egypt's overall inflation rate has hit 25%, with analysts blaming the jump largely on the war in Gaza.

Tourism revenues are also down due to the Gaza conflict and some Western countries have warned their citizens not to travel to Egypt or other Middle Eastern countries.