UAE Shows Regional Diplomatic Sway With Gaza Aid, Ties to Israel

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(Bloomberg) — A slice of Abu Dhabi has arrived in El-Arish, a small city in North Sinai about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Gaza. Once rarely visited by outsiders, this coastal spot is now teeming with Emirati volunteers in cargo pants and beige vests emblazoned with the United Arab Emirates flag.

They joined UAE government officials, Red Crescent workers and hospital staff in the Egyptian area outside the Strip, as part of a humanitarian effort to help more than two million people whose lives have been devastated by the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

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The UAE’s aid efforts in El Arish and the Palestinian territories since the conflict began nearly 10 months ago have cost the energy-rich country about $700 million, Sultan Mohammed Al Shamsi, assistant foreign minister for international development affairs, told Bloomberg during a government-organized trip in early July.

This includes setting up a field hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which has treated nearly 50,000 people, according to its staff, and a second temporary medical facility on a ship moored nearby in the Mediterranean.

The UAE’s efforts are evidence of the growing regional influence of the Gulf state, which has forged ties with Israel and strengthened ties with Egypt in recent years — including through a $35 billion investment to help unlock a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Israel uses these ties—and billions of oil dollars—to play a leading role in diplomatic and aid efforts in the conflict, and has signaled its willingness to help prepare for a postwar scenario—including sending security forces into Gaza. But its influence only goes so far—the war shows no sign of ending, and the Israeli leadership has paid scant attention to international calls for a ceasefire.

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Read: Understanding the Roots of the Israel-Hamas War: QuickTake

Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, said the UAE might “consider participating in a temporary stabilization mission after an official invitation from the reformist Palestinian Authority,” referring to the administration that governs parts of the West Bank and controlled Gaza before Hamas took control in 2007.

Part of the UAE’s motivation may be “to position itself as an important diplomatic intermediary, able to deal with both Israel and Egypt in a way that few other countries can,” said Steffen Hertog, an associate professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “The UAE is also under some pressure to have a positive impact on Palestine given the huge amount of criticism it receives in the Arab public sphere” for having relations with Israel, he added.

This initiative comes on the heels of other international interventions by the UAE, including brokering a prisoner exchange deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Water desalination plants

The UAE operates about a half-dozen desalination plants in El Arish, producing more than a million gallons a day for the people of Gaza, while several warehouses containing food, medicine and clothing have been built on the Egyptian side of the border. Funding has been provided for airdrops that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per ton, according to Al Shamsi.

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But despite the efforts of the UAE and others, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is deteriorating, he said. With no access by land routes, including the Rafah border crossing into Sinai — which has been closed since Israel took control of it in May — aid groups have had to rely mainly on airdrops, which require Israeli government approval.

“We have provided by sea, land and 300 flights nearly 40,000 tons of humanitarian aid to meet the urgent needs of the Palestinians,” Al-Hashemi told Bloomberg.

Al Shamsi said some of the UAE military aircraft stationed at El Arish airport can carry tons of parcels containing food and medical supplies. He added that the UAE aircraft recently transported aid to northern Gaza, the area most affected by the Israeli air and ground campaign.

“The nature of food insecurity in the entire Gaza Strip is unprecedented in this century,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a study published in April. According to the United Nations, some 90 percent of people in the densely populated enclave have fled their homes and lack access to adequate shelter, food, medical services and clean water.

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For Duaa, a mother of five from Gaza, she arrived at the makeshift hospital in the UAE with her children about three months ago, providing shelter after months of constant bombardment. She was waiting to be transferred to the Gulf state to get a prosthetic limb after her right leg was amputated.

“I haven’t seen my husband for months,” she told Bloomberg. “He’s in an Egyptian hospital but his condition is so critical he can’t be transferred here. This situation is more difficult than anyone can imagine.”

UAE Foreign Minister Reem Al Hashimy said a ceasefire and the release of all hostages and detainees were urgently needed to stop the escalation in the region, which she said had led to “unprecedented instability.”

ceasefire talks

Talks to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, have made no progress for months — and look more difficult than ever after a suspected Israeli attack killed Hamas’s political leader in Tehran last week.

Israel has vowed to kill all Hamas leaders since the war began in October, when the group — designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union — invaded the south of the country, killing some 1,200 people. According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent Israeli military campaign.

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The United Arab Emirates established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements brokered by the administration of former US President Donald Trump that established relations between the Jewish state and several Arab countries including Bahrain.

The agreement was intended to boost economic cooperation between the two sides and reduce regional and security tensions, though the results have been mixed. The UAE has maintained dialogue with Israel throughout the war with Hamas, while failing to significantly rein in the country’s military aggression.

Meanwhile, Israel is under pressure from other Arab countries to maintain relations with Israel as the bombing of Palestinians continues.

Abu Dhabi’s position on normalization with Israel has not changed, according to a person familiar with the government’s thinking who was not authorized to speak publicly. The person said the UAE believes that establishing diplomatic relations has enabled it to get aid into Gaza and hold talks with the government.

Many have seen the UAE’s investment in Egypt—which has helped stave off economic crisis—as a signal of Abu Dhabi’s intent to compete for influence with rival Gulf powers including Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The UAE’s particular focus on humanitarian efforts in Gaza is likely to stand it in good stead with the United States, said Hertog of the London School of Economics.

—With the assistance of Thomas Hall.

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