4 Jan Cairo
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000007 
SIPDIS
FOR NEA/ELA AND NEA/IPA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2019 
TAGS: KPAL, PGOV, PREL, PHUM, EG, IS 
SUBJECT: EGYPT: GAZA ROUND-UP: JANUARY 4 
REF: A. CAIRO 0003 B. CAIRO 0002 
Classified By: Minister Counselor William R. Stewart 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

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Rafah
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1. (S) As of 1500 hrs. local on January 4, Egyptian military
contacts said Egypt closed the Rafah border crossing on
January 4 after the Israelis gave advanced warning of their
ground invasion and additional air strikes on the smuggling
tunnels along the Gaza-Rafah border. According to the Egyptian
military, the air strikes against the tunnels "appear to be
effective8 and the Egyptian Border Guards have seen "no tunnel
smuggling activity8 since Israel began bombing Gaza. The
Ministry Of Defense will brief military attaches and diplomats
on January 5 on their views of the Gaza situation.

2. (SBU) The Egypt-Gaza border remains stable, with a reported
7000 central security forces (civilian, not military)
providing additional security throughout Rafah, al-Arish, and
the major roads across northern Sinai.

3. (SBU) On January 3, an Egyptian border guard was shot and
wounded by Palestinian gunfire. Until January 4, the Egyptians
continued to open the Rafah crossing for the transfer of
medical supplies into Gaza and to receive injured
Palestinians. The transfer of humanitarian assistance had been
slow, as all shipments were transferred by hand between
Egyptian and Palestinian trucks. However, even this traffic
across the Rafah border has now ceased.

4. (U) According to press reports, 102 Palestinians have been
treated in Egyptian hospitals since hostilities began and 294
Palestinians have been allowed back into Gaza. Wounded
Palestinians are being initially taken to two hospitals in
al-Arish ) al-Arish General and Mubarak Armed Forces ) and
then transferred as needed to Ministry of Health or military
hospitals in Cairo and Ismailia.

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Demonstrations January 3 and 4
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5. (C) According to independent daily "Al-Masry Al-Youm 
(AMAY)," on January 3, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) organized a mass 
demonstration of 10,000 at the Doctors' Syndicate in Kafr El-Sheikh in 
the northern Delta. If this estimate is accurate, it would probably be 
the largest demonstration in Egypt since the Israeli attacks on Gaza 
began December 27. According to press reports, there were small 
demonstrations January 3 in the Delta governorates of Sharkia and 
Dakahlia. We have confirmed there were demonstrations January 3 in 
El-Arish approximately 20 miles south of the Gaza border, following the 
January 2 El-Arish demonstrations when police prevented protestors from 
moving to the Gaza border. A prominent blogger told us that the AMAY 
journalist whom police beat unconscious at a downtown Cairo 
demonstration on Friday, January 2, has left the hospital and returned 
to work. According to this blogger, the journalist told the police that 
he was covering the demonstration for "AMAY," but the police continued 
to beat him anyway. The blogger said that the police prevented 
opposition journalists from covering downtown Cairo demonstrations 
December 31, and subsequently transported the journalists to a desert 
area bordering Cairo and left them there.

6. (SBU) Contacts told local staff that police had 
violently suppressed a January 4 demonstration in the port city of 
Damietta, and have arrested several demonstrators. Contacts have 
estimated 1,500 demonstrators in Damietta January 4. The MB called for a
demonstration the afternoon of January 4 outside the Engineers' 
Syndicate in downtown Cairo. We noticed a moderately heavy security 
presence in the vicinity around mid-day, and we will continue to monitor
developments related to this demonstration. 

-------------------------
Inside the Demonstrations 
-------------------------

7. (C) A prominent blogger told us January 4 that the MB has
tried to avoid chanting anti-Mubarak slogans during
demonstrations as it realizes that the police will move in to
stop demonstrations when such chanting begins. The blogger
said that when leftist opposition members begin chanting such
slogans during demonstrations, MB members try to drown them

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out with shouts of "God is great (Allahu Akbar)."

8. (C) A leading member of the Egyptian Organization for Human
Rights (EOHR) told us that MB members tried to stop an EOHR
press conference at the Journalists' Syndicate during the week
of December 28 by shouting insults accusing the organization
of being an agent of the U.S. and the West, before the press
conference eventually proceeded. This EOHR contact told us
that his organization is asking the GOE to disclose the number
of demonstrators it is currently holding in detention. He said
the EOHR believes that the GOE has released most demonstrators
from custody after a few hours of detention.

SCOBEY