Egypt's army turns to Sinai tribes to prepare for influx of Palestinians to Rafah

Egypt’s military intelligence has held meetings with Sinai tribes in recent weeks to discuss their potential role in the event of an Israeli invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, a report by Middle East Eye on Monday reveals.

At the meetings, Egyptian intelligence officers said they estimated a Palestinian influx of between 50,000 and 250,000 people towards Sinai if Israel carries out a ground operation in the Palestinian Rafah.

The meetings were held prior to the controversial creation of an alliance of tribal groups at the Egyptian side of Rafah, led by the influential pro-government businessman and militia leader Ibrahim al-Organi. 

The Arab Tribes Union (ATU), an alliance of five Egyptian Bedouin tribes, was announced at a large celebration on 1 May with the stated goal of integrating tribal entities into a single framework to support the Egyptian state against security threats. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was declared its “honorary president”.

According to three Sinai tribal sources and one Egyptian security source, in the weeks leading up to the event, a number of meetings were held in North Sinai between senior members of Bedouin tribes, officers from the Secret Service apparatus in the military intelligence (known internally as Group 55), and others from the Second Field Army. 

According to three people who attended these meetings, the army and intelligence officers emphasised the necessity of assisting the armed forces and security agencies in “monitoring any infiltration of Palestinians” towards the villages and centres of North Sinai should this displacement occur, and warned against harbouring any of them and immediately reporting any movement of unfamiliar individuals in the areas close to the border.

Read more: Rafah invasion: Egyptian army turns to Sinai tribes to prepare for influx of Palestinians