U.S. Ambassador to Israel Is Expected to Make Rare Visit to Egypt

The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, is expected to travel to Cairo for talks with senior Egyptian officials, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem said, at a moment of increasingly fraught relations between Israel and Egypt.

The talks, set to occur in the coming days, will focus on the Gaza war, according to three U.S. and Middle Eastern officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details about the visit.

It would likely be the first official visit to Egypt in decades by a sitting U.S. ambassador to Israel, and is expected to include a meeting with Egypt’s foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, according to the three officials.

It is not yet clear what role the current U.S. ambassador to Egypt, Herro Mustafa Garg, who was appointed during the Biden administration, will play in the talks.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Huckabee’s visit comes amid strained relations between Israel and Egypt, largely over the war in Gaza, which borders both nations.

Egypt has criticized Israel’s ground assault on Gaza City, where nearly one million Palestinians were sheltering until recently, fearing that the fighting could force hundreds of thousands of Gazans across the Egyptian border into the Sinai Peninsula.

Israeli news media has reported that Israeli officials raised concerns to Washington about an Egyptian buildup of military forces in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel and Gaza. The Egyptian government said publicly last week, in a statement responding to media reports about the troop buildup, that its troops were in Sinai to defend Egypt’s borders against all threats. Egypt has also denied Israel’s contention that the troops were there in violation of the peace treaty it signed with Israel in 1979.

Mr. Huckabee is expected to address the tensions between the two countries, both of which receive substantial U.S. military aid, during his visit to Cairo, the three officials said.

The talks will also include a new plan to end the war that President Trump shared with Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this week, according to two of the officials.

Mr. Trump appointed Mr. Huckabee, a vocal supporter of the state of Israel, as ambassador shortly after being re-elected.

Egypt was the first Arab country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel after they signed the 1979 peace treaty, ending decades of wars. They have since gradually developed ties, sharing intelligence, striking major energy deals and maintaining direct communication between their leaders.

But the ongoing Gaza war, started by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has driven a wedge between the two countries. Egypt has acted as a mediator, alongside Qatar and the United States, in cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas

Earlier this month, Israel struck a residential building in Doha, Qatar’s capital, where senior Hamas leaders were staying, killing five people affiliated with Hamas and a member of the Qatari internal security forces. Since the attack, it has remained unclear whether cease-fire negotiations will resume, and if Qatar will continue to play a role as a mediator.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt condemned the strike, warning that Israel was risking its diplomatic ties with Arab states. He said the strike “places obstacles before any new peace agreements and even strains the existing peace accords with countries in the region.”

Adam Rasgon contributed reporting from Tel Aviv