One day after the first visit in nine years of an Egyptian foreign minister to Israel on July 10, a senior Israeli official told Bloomberg that in recent years Israel has been striking Islamic State (IS) targets in the Sinai Peninsula in coordination with Egypt, and with its blessing. The use of drones in Sinai is directed at IS fighters, which Hamas leaders are keenly aware of. However, they have been careful not to set out against Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi concerning the cooperation with Israel, so as not to further exacerbate the already strained relations between them.

The timing of the recent report was no accident. It sought to provide proof to the countries in the region — specifically to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Ramallah — that the relationships between the two countries are closer than ever and that Egypt is resuming its role as the most influential player in the region.

Back in the day, when President Hosni Mubarak was in power, it was Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman who managed the contacts between the two countries. The fact that it was Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry who visited Israel and not the intelligence minister has far-reaching critical implications for Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah. The cooperation between the two countries is no longer restricted to security matters; the relations between them are now also based on joint diplomatic interests.

And this is precisely what worries Hamas the most. The security cooperation between Israel and Egypt in Rafah and Sinai is something the movement feels firsthand on a daily basis. Yet, for the two to have mutual diplomatic interests is a game changer. A diplomatic process led by Sisi, in the framework of the 2002 Arab Initiative, means that the Palestinian key player vis-a-vis whom negotiations will take place is PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Any Hamas resistance to such a diplomatic process could result in greater Egyptian pressure on Gaza, potentially bringing about its collapse.