Five hundred a day – out of nearly two million who don’t want to be in Gaza, doesn’t sound like a lot. It illustrates just how badly the Egyptians do not want to a Palestinian problem thrown in their lap. Egypt actually maintained the Gaza strip for 1949 until 1973, and hated every moment of it. The Hamas, which has rune Gaza since 2007, is affiliated with the Muslim-Brotherhood, which Egypt’s President al-Sisi had to oust when he took over and (rightly) suspects with re-oust with half a chance.
It’s more than politics, though: Egypt’s economy is in the tank: inflation is a 38% and the central bank has kept rates at 19.75%. The war in Gaza doen’t have to spread to spook foreign investors and the IMF have already downgraded the country’s growth outlook. Food is already scarce and expensive a they’ve got an election in December. Although, President al-Sisi has never been overly impressed with the ballot box.