Israel notifies Egypt of plans to send troops to Gaza’s Rafah: Israel has reportedly informed Egypt that it intends to send troops to Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor, saying that they will only operate in the area temporarily, Sky News Arabia reported on Saturday. Egypt stood in firm opposition to the decision. The two sides are currently talking over the matter, with the Israeli side stressing that it will not displace Palestinians intoEgypt.

Egypt isn’t happy and Washington intervenes: The US has reportedly urged Egypt to refrain from calling back its ambassador from Israel — a move triggered by repeated Israeli calls to displace Palestinian refugees in Sinai, Israeli platform i24 News reports, citing unnamed senior diplomatic sources.

Speaking of Egypt and Washington- Our head of intel was with the CIA head yesterday. Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel joined Qatari Prime Minister Mohamed Bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, CIA head William Burns, Israel’s Mossad head David Barnea, and the head of Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet Ronen Bar in Paris yesterday, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister Office. Although the statement provides little to no details on what the discussions covered, it mentions that the “meeting was defined as constructive,” but “there are still significant gaps which the sides will continue to discuss at additional mutual meetings to be held this week.”

We have an idea about what they may have talked about: Earlier this week, the New YorkTimes reported that Hamas and Israel are on the verge of reaching an agreement which would see Israel halt all fighting in Gaza for about two months in exchange for Hamas releasing over 100 Israeli hostages.

What’s next? If all goes according to plan, the Biden administration will send Middle East Advisor Brett McGurk to the region to help finalize the agreement.

Shoukry + Saudi FM renew calls for ceasefire: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan reiterated calls for a ceasefire during a joint presser(pdf) yesterday.

AND- UN wants the world to continue supporting UNRWA: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on governments to continue supporting the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA). His plea came after the US and other countries suspended their funding to the agency following Israeli allegations that some of the agency’s staff members took part in the 7 October attacks on Israel.

RED SEA WATCH-

Shipping firms want incentives from the SCA: Suez Canal Authority (SCA) head Osama Rabie met with representatives from several shipping firms yesterday to discuss the repercussions of the repeated attacks on vessels passing through the Red Sea, according to a statement.

The bottomline: Firms love the Suez Canal but fee reductions and incentives will help offset the high ins. premiums and shipping costs triggered by the attacks in the waterway.

The canal has been hit hard by the Red Sea disruptions that pushed many vessels away from the waterway and had them instead reroute around the Cape of Good Hope. Suez Canal receipts have fallen 44% y-o-y to USD 802 mn this month.

AND- Aramex leverages trucking to avoid Red Sea hold ups:Aramex Freight Services will be loading shipments from Europe onto its fleet of trucks at Port Said instead of rerouting vessels away from the Red Sea via the longer and pricier Cape of Good Hope in light of current Red Sea disruptions, it said in a statement. The firm will be loading shipments from Asia into its trucks in Dubai and KSA’s Dammam.

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