Suez Canal Authority responds to video of Israeli warship transiting waterway

Egyptian authority says all vessels allowed free passage, after video of ship passing through canal sparks anger

A screengrab from a video showing an Israeli warship sailing through the Suez Canal. Photo: X/@tamer2020sd

Egypt's Suez Canal Authority said on Sunday that all commercial or military vessels had the right to transit the waterway, in the first official response to a widely shared video of an Israeli warship sailing through the canal.

The statement issued by the state-owned authority, which runs the waterway linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, made no mention of the video, which shows a small crowd of Egyptians watching as the Israeli vessel sails through.

The vessel, which sailed south from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, flew the flags of Israel and Egypt. Suez Canal regulations stipulate that the flag of the host nation is flown next to that of the country of registration while a vessel passes through the waterway.

The authority's statement was the second time in less than a week that Egyptian authorities responded to social media posts, at a time when anti-Israeli sentiment is running high over the war in Gaza. Many social media users have been critical of what they view as a lack of punitive measures against Israel in response to the war.

Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, becoming the first Arab nation to do so after the countries fought four full-fledged wars between 1948 and 1973. Relations have been more tense since the Gaza war broke out last year.

“The Suez Canal Authority emphasises its commitment to the implementation of international treaties guaranteeing free passage to ships transiting the Suez Canal whether they are commercial or military, regardless of their nationality,” said the statement, which the authority said was in response to “questions on social media".

The statement referred to the internationally recognised Constantinople Convention of 1888, the provisions of which still govern the rules of the Suez Canal. The convention's first clause declares that the waterway “shall always be free and of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag. Consequently, the High Contracting Parties agree not in any way to interfere with the free use of the Canal, in time of war as in time of peace. The Canal shall never be subjected to the exercise of the right of blockade”.

Egypt's army responded on Thursday to allegations on social media that it was aiding Israel in its war in Gaza, where more than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed since October last year. The statement followed media reports that Egypt's Mediterranean port of Alexandria received a shipment of explosives bound for Israel.

“The Egyptian Armed Forces categorically deny what has been circulated on social media and suspicious accounts and what is being promoted about assisting Israel in its military operations in general and in detail,” it said in a statement.

The statement was issued a day after a pro-Palestinian legal support group filed a court appeal in Berlin, seeking to block a 150-tonne shipment of military-grade explosives on the German cargo vessel MV Kathrin, which the group said was destined for Israel's biggest defence contractor, Elbit Systems. London Stock Exchange data and the vessel-tracking website Marine Traffic showed the MV Kathrin docked at Alexandria on Monday.

On Thursday, Egypt's Transport Ministry said the ship docked in Alexandria to unload a shipment for Egypt's Ministry of Military Production, and that it submitted an official request to leave for Turkey.

The European Legal Support Centre's appeal argued that the explosives could be used in munitions for Israel's war in Gaza, potentially contributing to alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Because of the explosives bound for Israel, the MV Kathrin was denied entry at several African and European ports, including in Angola, Slovenia, Montenegro and Malta, the group said. It added that Portuguese authorities recently required the ship to switch from a Portuguese flag to a German flag before it could continue.