On 6 November, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz declared the area along his country's border with Egypt a "closed military zone", allowing Israeli forces to open fire on "unauthorised" entrants. The new order, according to Israeli claims, aims to curb an increase in drone-facilitated weapons' smuggling from Sinai, the Egyptian territory that abuts both Israel and Gaza.
The 208-kilometre Egypt-Israel border, which stretches through the arid Sinai and Israel's Negev Desert, has long been a flashpoint of illicit trade. The trade has recently received a boost from advanced commercial drones that evade traditional barriers, which Israel sees as a precarious turning point.
Israeli officials report hundreds of drone incursions in the past three months alone, with payloads including assault rifles, handguns, and heavy weaponry destined for Gaza.
But in Cairo, the response to the order has been filled with fury and accusation. Egyptian legal and political experts have decried the move as "a blatant violation" of the landmark 1979 Egypt-Israel treaty and a provocative step that could unravel decades of stability between the two countries.
A violation of the 1979 treaty?
The 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, brokered by US President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, ended three decades of conflict and returned Sinai to Egyptian sovereignty after its occupation by Israel in 1967.
The treaty's Security Annexe delineates demilitarised zones along the border, capping troop deployments on both sides to prevent militarisation.
Egypt's Zone C, adjacent to the border, permits only police forces with light arms, while Israel maintains a limited military presence.
Critics in Egypt argue that Katz's declaration transforms a shared frontier into an Israeli fortress, effectively deploying troops in violation of these limits and risking "skirmishes" in a region already strained by the Gaza war.
"This is a blatant violation of the peace treaty and its Security Annexe," international law specialist Mohamed Mahran told The New Arab.
"Apart from limiting troop presence on both sides of the border, the treaty prohibits unilateral actions on either side," he added.
Having described the declaration of the Israeli defence minister as "fraught with danger", Mahran expressed fears that it might cause military frictions between Egypt and Israel in the future.
Other legal experts echo this, citing treaty articles that mandate mutual consultation on security threats.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has yet to issue an official rebuttal. Still, some experts refer to behind-the-scenes diplomacy in which Washington, the treaty's guarantor, might intervene to prevent future escalation.
Compounding the outrage in Egypt is Israel's current occupation of the Philadelphi Corridor, a 14-kilometre buffer strip along Gaza's southern border with Egypt. Israel seized this strip in May 2024 during the Rafah offensive.
Stretching from the Mediterranean coast to the Karem Abu Salem crossing, this corridor was demilitarised under a 2005 agreement between Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli forces now patrol the corridor with tanks and sensors, claiming it as an "oxygen" line for Hamas rearmament via tunnels.
An Egyptian army general has called Israel's occupation of the corridor a "double violation", infringing on both the peace treaty and the 2005 Philadelphia Accord, which assigned Palestinian Authority oversight to the Gaza side.
For Egypt, the corridor's control evokes fears of permanent Israeli encroachment.
The occupation, now over 18 months old, has stalled reconstruction aid and furthered bilateral distrust.
A pattern of provocation
In Egyptian eyes, Katz's order is the latest in a "long series of Israeli provocations", following a September 2025 campaign where Jerusalem accused Cairo of amassing offensive capabilities in Sinai, including tanks, extended runways for fighter jets, and underground missile silos, in breach of treaty quotas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly pressed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to intervene, labelling the build-up a "strategic threat" amid fears of Egyptian aggression.
Israel even froze a $35 billion natural gas export deal with Egypt in October, citing smuggling concerns.
Sinai, roughly the size of Israel, the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon combined, has seen Egyptian troop increases since October 2023, when Israel's war on Gaza began.
Cairo justified this as a precautionary measure against the possibility of jihadists using the chaos in Gaza next door to resume their activities in Sinai.
It also expressed fears of a refugee exodus into the Egyptian territory that could "demolish" the Palestinian cause.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly affirmed abiding by the treaty, but Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter decried Egyptian military deployments in Sinai, warning of bases that could be used for "offensive operations".
While Egypt touts successes, like a January 2024 Nitzana drug bust worth $14 million, it denies systemic drone failures.
In April 2024, Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt's State Information Service, the media arm of the Egyptian presidency, fired back at Israeli arms smuggling claims, asserting that most Hamas arms originate from Israel via sea routes under Israeli army naval control, not Sinai tunnels.
Delicate regional balance
The timing of the Israeli defence minister's decision is very sensitive.
Just one month earlier, a US-brokered ceasefire ended two years of unrelenting Israeli strikes on Gaza, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Signed by President Donald Trump alongside President Sisi, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the deal freed hostages, released prisoners, and pledged $53 billion in reconstruction.
Egypt hosted follow-up summits, positioning itself as a linchpin for stability. However, objections by far-right Israeli politicians and cabinet ministers threaten its longevity.
Meanwhile, Egyptian observers express fears that Netanyahu's "incendiary policy" seeks perpetual conflict to appease far-right allies like Itamar Ben-Gvir, who praised the latest border order as targeting "terrorist objectives."
"The Israeli government is certain that it won't keep staying in office if there is peace, and this is why it keeps picking quarrels to convince Israelis that their country is in danger," political researcher Mohamed Rabie al-Dehi opined to TNA.
"Egypt manages its security affairs, especially on its borders, masterfully, but it will surely move to defend its national security in case of threats," he added.