‘An attack on our territory? Dec

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya reported that Egypt decided to scale back security coordination with Israel “until further notice” in response to the Doha strike. Sources cited by the network said Cairo was carrying out a “reorganization” of its security communications with Israel.

Khalil al-Hayya, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Benjamin Netanyahu

(Photo: Bashar Taleb/ AFP/ Martin Sylvest / Ritzau Scanpix/ AFP, Khaled Desouki/ AFP, Yuval Chen, Yair Sagi, IDF, Reuters/ Evelyn Hockstein, Khalil Hamra/AP / Hassan Ammar)

At the same time, the London-based Middle East Eye reported that senior Egyptian officials claimed Cairo uncovered an Israeli plan to target Hamas leaders living in Egypt and warned Israel that such an attack would be met with force.

“According to intelligence, Israel has been planning for some time to assassinate senior Hamas leaders in Cairo, after Egypt already foiled a similar attempt during past negotiations in the city over the last two years,” a senior security official told the site, which is affiliated with Qatar and Turkey.

The official said: “Any attempt to harm the lives of Hamas leaders on Egyptian soil will be defined by Egypt as a violation of its sovereignty, and as a declaration of war by Israel — and we will not hesitate to respond.”

Scene of the Qatar strike

(Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

Although no Hamas leaders are officially known to reside in Egypt, the security official said several have lived there for years, even before the war broke out.

Meanwhile, a Hamas source said that Cairo is weighing whether to host Hamas leaders currently based in Doha after some were targeted in the Israeli strike. For now, the source said, the idea remains only a possibility, not a formal decision. He added that Egypt may consider such a move only if it receives U.S. guarantees, since it is wary of accommodating a large Hamas leadership presence linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The source also said Egypt had concluded that Israel’s right-wing government “does not respect it,” prompting Egyptian media to harden its tone toward Israel. According to the source, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia are in talks about coordinated moves toward Washington and Jerusalem, asserting there is “no difference between Trump and Smotrich.”