Over the weekend, after a significant exchange of missiles between Israel and the Hezbollah group, Egyptian leader Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi spoke to one the top US generals, warning of the danger of any further escalation of the Gaza conflict.

The international community needs to "exert all efforts and intensify pressures to defuse tension and stop the state of escalation that threatens the security and stability of the entire region," el-Sissi said, according to a statement published by his office after a visit from the US General Charles Quinton Brown a few hours after the Israeli military and the armed wing of Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, traded fire.

Alongside Americans and Qataris, Egyptians are part of the team of mediators trying to negotiate a cease-fire in Gaza, where an Israeli military campaign has been ongoing since the October 7 attacks by the Gaza-based Hamas militant group.

Such statesmanlike words help el-Sissi polish his image, says Hossam el-Hamalawy, an Egyptian researcher and activist now living in Germany who writes a regular newsletter on Egyptian politics. "And the war in Gaza basically has helped consolidate his regime even further," el-Hamalawy told DW.

During almost 11 months of the Gaza conflict, the idea that Egypt — the Middle East's most populous country, with around 111 million people — is "too big to fail" has become more compelling.

Fighting has meant important income earners for Egypt, like tourism and shipping through the Suez Canal, have been throttled. This has worsened a crippling economic crisis in Egypt widely considered to be the result of........

© Deutsche Welle