Egypt, Rafah, and the Forgotten Truth: What the UN Says About Egypt’s Role in Gaza Aid
- Ahmed Fathi
- Aug 22
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 9
By Ahmed Fathi
New York — Recently, whether in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, or even Tel Aviv, I have heard the same chant rise again and again: “Egypt is blocking aid into Gaza.” The accusation appears on placards, reverberates through rallies, and spreads endlessly across social media. Outside the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Arab-Israeli Islamists — astonishingly mobilizing in tandem with far-right Jewish groups — repeated the claim, a spectacle that shows just how far this narrative has traveled and how deliberately it has been engineered.
Let’s set the record straight from the outset. This is not about defending the Egyptian government. It is about facts. I write as a journalist, as a UN Correspondent who spent years combing through every press briefing, every transcript, every word spoken from the UN podium. And those records are unambiguous: the claim that Egypt is blocking aid to Gaza does not hold up.
The myth may be loud, but it is false. Egypt has been cast as the villain in a crisis where, in reality, its territory has served as the staging ground and lifeline for humanitarian convoys. This distortion does more than muddy politics — it insults the dignity of over a hundred million Egyptians, both in Egypt and across the diaspora, misrepresented on the world stage.
The United Nations’ own briefings tell the story plainly:
On 20 October 2023, standing at Rafah, Secretary-General António Guterres declared: “Egypt is today the fundamental pillar that allows hope to exist on that side of the border. Hope that these trucks will move to support them.” The world’s top diplomat saw Egypt not as a barrier but as a bridge of hope.
On 2 July 2024, a senior UN humanitarian briefer told the Security Council: “Recounting images of more than 1,200 trucks waiting on the Egyptian side of the border, he pointed to the complex administrative processes…” The image was of aid stockpiled in Egypt, drivers waiting, cargo ready — but approvals stalled beyond Cairo’s control.
On 28 July 2025, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric stated from the podium in New York: “UNRWA says that some 6,000 trucks in Jordan and Egypt are waiting for the green light to enter.” That light does not come from Cairo. It comes from Tel Aviv.
Why, then, does the opposite narrative echo so widely? Because it serves a purpose. It is Islamists — spearheaded by the Muslim Brotherhood — who have driven this campaign internationally. And context matters: Hamas was born as the Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch.
Founded in 1987 during the First Intifada by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and other Brotherhood members, Hamas enshrined in its charter its place within the Brotherhood’s wider Islamist project. Unlike the secular PLO, Hamas carried the Brotherhood’s ideology of political Islam into the Palestinian struggle, setting itself up as both resistance movement and ideological heir.
This link explains much. It is why the Brotherhood’s global networks — from advocacy groups in the United States, to community organizations in Europe, and even through mobilizing Arab-Israeli Islamists alongside far-right Jewish groups in Tel Aviv — consistently align their messaging with Hamas. By placing Egypt in the dock of public opinion, they shield Hamas from scrutiny while redirecting anger toward Cairo. For the Brotherhood, vilifying Egypt is both revenge and strategy.
I have covered enough international crises to know when propaganda overwhelms fact. And in this case, propaganda has been relentless. But the UN record is clear: Egypt staged aid in El-Arish, coordinated through the Egyptian Red Crescent, and kept the channels open. The convoys did not move because Israel controls the final clearance — not because Egypt locked the gate.
This is not a defense of a regime. It is a defense of truth, of facts on the record, and of the dignity of over a hundred million Egyptians, both at home and in the diaspora, misrepresented on the world stage. Narratives left unchallenged shape opinion, and opinion shapes policy.
So when I see protesters outside the UN in New York, by Egypt’s Mission, or in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv, I remind myself: slogans may be loud, but facts are stubborn. And the facts show, without question, that Egypt has been the bridge to Gaza, not the barrier.
** Ahmed Fathi is a United Nations correspondent, global affairs analyst, and author of* America First, The World Divided: Trump 2.0 Influence. *He writes about diplomacy, multilateralism, power, perception, and the politics that shape our global future.