CAIRO (Realist English). Senior Egyptian officials have accused Israel of plotting to assassinate Hamas leaders residing in Cairo and warned that any such attempt would be met with a forceful response, Middle East Eye reported on Thursday.
According to a high-level Egyptian security source, intelligence services foiled at least one earlier attempt during ceasefire negotiations in the capital in recent years. “Any attempt on the lives of Hamas leaders on Egyptian soil would be considered a violation of sovereignty and, accordingly, a declaration of war by Israel, which we would not hesitate to retaliate against,” the source said.
The warning followed remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who threatened to pursue Hamas operatives abroad. His comments came after a series of airstrikes in Doha on Tuesday that targeted residential buildings allegedly housing Hamas officials, prompting condemnation across the region.
Although Egypt has not officially confirmed that Hamas leaders reside within its borders, officials told MEE that several have lived in Cairo for years, though their identities and locations remain undisclosed for security reasons.
Egyptian authorities have pressed Israel to return to ceasefire negotiations instead of escalating military operations in Gaza. Relations between the two neighbours have grown increasingly strained in recent months, particularly over speculation that Palestinians could be displaced into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula — a scenario Cairo has firmly rejected. In August, Egypt deployed some 40,000 troops to its border with Gaza to prevent any mass crossings.
A senior Egyptian military official said Israel’s strikes in Doha did not involve Egyptian airspace and stressed there had been “absolutely no coordination” with Egypt or the US over the operation. “A Chinese air defence system deployed in Sinai makes it impossible for any aircraft to cross without detection,” the official added.
Netanyahu, in a video address, compared Hamas’ October 7, 2023 assault on Israel to the September 11 attacks in the US. He vowed to pursue Hamas leaders worldwide, citing America’s pursuit of al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden as precedent.
Analysts say Egypt’s warning is less about protecting Hamas — which Cairo views with suspicion due to its ties to the banned Muslim Brotherhood — and more about defending its regional standing. “Any Israeli strike in Cairo would be a humiliation,” one security analyst told MEE. “It would undermine Egypt’s prestige and its credibility as a mediator in the conflict.”
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but popular sentiment has remained largely hostile to normalization. Any Israeli action inside Egypt would test that fragile balance and potentially drag Cairo deeper into the Gaza conflict.
