Netanyahu warns over growing Egyptian army capabilities despite strong ties, major gas deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Thursday about the growing capabilities of the Egyptian army and called for preventing an “excessive build-up” of military power, according to Hebrew media reports.

The comments were made during a closed discussion at the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, the newspaper Israel Hayom reported.

Sources who attended the meeting were quoted as saying that Netanyahu stated: “The Egyptian army is building its strength, and this needs to be monitored.” He added: “We have a relationship with Egypt, but we must prevent an excessive accumulation of military power.”

According to the sources, Netanyahu’s remarks came in the context of discussing the sensitivity of relations with Egypt.

The newspaper noted that despite these concerns, Israel and Egypt signed a gas agreement worth about $35 billion in December last year.

Netanyahu announced on 17^th December that the Israeli government had approved the gas deal with Egypt, describing it as “the largest in Israel’s history”.

He said: “The value of the deal is 112 billion shekels (around $34.75 billion), making it the biggest gas agreement in Israel’s history.”

Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in Washington on 26^th March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The treaty ended the state of war between the two countries, normalised relations, led to Israel’s full withdrawal of its military and civilians from the Sinai Peninsula, and kept the area demilitarised.