Reports: US pressuring Egypt to deploy troops in Gaza day after war

The United States has reportedly been putting pressure on Egypt to deploy its army in the Gaza Strip after the war ends in the besieged Palestinian Strip, Israel’s Channel 7 reported.

The channel said Cairo is “not enthusiastic” about the American proposal, adding that senior US officials have recently visited Cairo to put pressure on the Egyptian government to deploy a military force in the Gaza Strip, as part of the agreement to end Israel’s war on the enclave.

For its part, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation Kan 11 quoted an Egyptian official as saying that Cairo is currently refusing to discuss the possibility of sending military forces to Gaza, and demands a ceasefire be concluded first which includes an Israeli commitment to resolving the Palestinian issue.

According to the unnamed official, this is the basis for starting to discuss the “Egyptian forces deployment” issue in detail.

Several Arab countries, led by Egypt, have in recent months presented the Americans with a document of principles for the day after the war in Gaza, which also included the possibility of deploying troops, conditional on achieving the two-state solution – which includes the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

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