People online have taken to social media to express outrage over a record $35bn gas deal between Egypt and Israel, accusing Israel of economic complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza.
Marking the largest export deal in Israel’s history, the agreement, announced on Thursday by Israeli energy company NewMed, will see a tripling of Egyptian gas imports from the Israeli Leviathan gas fields, accounting for 130 billion cubic metres (bcm) worth of gas that will be piped from the Israeli offshore field to Egypt through to 2040.
Amid the war on Gaza, which several countries, as well as many international rights groups and experts now qualify as an act of genocide, Egypt’s decision to import Israeli gas was termed “shameful” online.
In the middle of the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians, Egypt sign a $35 billion natural gas deal with Tel Aviv. Shameful.
— Vijay Prashad (@vijayprashad) August 7, 2025
Many have also raised concerns over the rightful ownership of the gas resources, arguing that the deal amounts to theft since oil and gas resources in the Mediterranean Sea belonged to Palestinians before the establishment of the Israeli state and the unlawful expulsion of Palestinians in 1948.
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“The Egyptian government buys Palestinian gas from the Zionists at a time when they are slaughtering the owners of that gas!” Muhammad Al Shinqiti, author and associate professor of political ethics and history of religion at Hamad bin Khalifa University, posted on X.
Former Egyptian MP Dr Hatem Azzam also questioned Israel’s ownership of the gas field in a post on X, claiming the gas to be originally Egyptian gas “that was relinquished to the Israeli authority”, since the field is located within “Egypt’s Exclusive Economic Zone”.
Salma El Daly, TV presenter for Al Araby, criticised the Egyptian government for making itself dependent on Israel, which “has cut off supply to us multiple times during our greatest times of need, costing us billions and causing losses in electricity and industry”.
مصر توقع اتفاق بـ35 مليار دولار لاستيراد الغاز من إسرائيل،من عدونا الاستراتيجي،اللي وقف التصدير لنا أكتر من مرة في عزّ احتياجنا، وده كلّفنا مليارات وخسائر في الكهرباء والصناعة.
إزاي نربط أمننا الطاقي بدولة مش ضامنين استقرارها ولا نواياها؟ ومجرمة، عدوة للإنسانية والحياة؟#غاز_مصر https://t.co/lswlepBAmR— Salma el Daly (@salmaeldaly) August 7, 2025
Egypt’s record on Gaza
While Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has repeatedly condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza and labelled the forced displacement of Palestinians as “an injustice that we cannot take part in”, the Egyptian government stands accused of aiding and abetting Netanyahu’s siege on Gaza.
Recently, Egyptian activists have faced harsh repressions for acts of solidarity with Gaza and criticism of Egypt’s complicity.
In July, two men who stormed the Ma’asara police station in Cairo in protest against Egypt’s failure to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza to allow life-saving aid into the territory were forcibly disappeared.
Last week, in the wake of a wave of protests in front of Egyptian embassies around the world, Egyptian activist Mohammad Abbas chained shut the gates of the Egyptian and Jordanian embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, as a symbolic gesture in solidarity with Palestinians.
“Egypt’s regime was attacking the protests in front of Egyptian embassies around the world that accuse it of participating in the siege of Gaza… and was saying, ‘We didn’t betray, and we’re not imposing a siege.’ Suddenly, it goes and signs a gas supply deal with Israel worth $35 billion over 15 years – amid the genocide”, Abbas wrote in a post on Facebook.
The gas deal between Egypt and Israel, Abbas says, amounts to “economic participation in the genocide”.
Over 200 Palestinian children and adults in Gaza have died from starvation since Israel’s onslaught on Gaza began in October 2023, and more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed.
The blockade on the Palestinian enclave has fluctuated in intensity. However, since 2 March, Israel has prevented all food and aid from reaching starving Palestinians. Very limited aid is being allowed in now after international outrage and people being killed by Israeli soldiers and mercenaries while seeking food.
