Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) director Ronen Bar visited Cairo and met with his Egyptian counterpart, Abbas Kamel, on Monday, Axios’ Barak Ravid reported, citing two Israeli sources.
The meeting took place amid tensions between Israel and Egypt over the war in Gaza and the possibility of the IDF expanding its operation to the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt.
Cairo fears a military operation in Rafah, especially along the Philadelphi Corridor — the narrow strip of land from the Palestinian Arab side to Egypt — could create a massive flow of refugees into the Sinai Peninsula.
Egypt has warned that such a scenario would lead to a rupture in its relations with Israel, which have already been in crisis mode since the beginning of the war.
According to Axios, Bar, who participated together with the Egyptian spy chief in the hostage talks in Paris on Sunday, traveled to Cairo to discuss non-hostages related issues, the Israeli officials said.
The issues included the situation along the Philadelphi Corridor and how Egypt and Israel can work together to prevent weapons smuggling into Gaza that would enable Hamas to rearm. They also discussed potential plans for after the war.
The Shin Bet declined to comment. Egyptian officials did immediately respond.