War on Gaza: Egyptian monthly exports to Israel double, UAE and Jordan exports also rise
Egyptian exports to Israel doubled in 2024 compared to the previous year despite Israel's devastating war on Gaza since October, according to a new report by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.
The data published on Thursday showed that Egyptian exports in May 2024 stood at $25m, double that of the same period in 2023.
Despite increasingly fraught relations, energy and security cooperation between the two countries has intensified since October, with Israeli natural gas exports to Egypt sharply increasing in the last year.
Meanwhile, exports from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Israel also increased to $242m in May 2024, compared to $238.5m in May 2023, the report said.
Jordanian exports to Israel also continued to rise in 2024, reaching $35.7m in May 2024 compared to $32.3m in the same period last year.
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In contrast to Egypt, the UAE and Jordan, Israeli statistics found that Turkish exports to Israel dropped by over half in 2024 compared to the previous year amid the Turkish trade ministry's restrictions on exports to the country over the war in Gaza. In May 2023, Turkish exports to Israel amounted to $376.6m, a value that plummeted to $116.8m in May 2024.
Israel’s trade with Egypt grew by 56 percent in 2023 and was up 168 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, according to the Abraham Accords Peace Institute report.
In 2022, the two countries set a target for annual trade at around $700 million by 2025, up from about $300 million in 2021.
Cairo has been a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in the current war on Gaza and has maintained peaceful relations with Israel over the past 45 years since the 1979 peace treaty.
However, relations between the countries have become increasingly strained since October due to Cairo's fears of the mass displacement of Palestinians into its Sinai Peninsula, an idea that has been touted by Israeli politicians.
In May, growing border tensions escalated when Israeli troops seized the strategic Rafah border crossing, the only land terminal between Gaza and an Arab country.
Two Egyptian soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces at the Rafah crossing last month, but Cairo's response has so far been muted
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