Egypt, Palestinian Territories: A New Wall and the Spurning of Hamas

Egypt has drawn ire from Hamas after publicly defending its decision to construct a steel barrier along the Egypt-Gaza border intended to prevent cross-border smuggling. The steel barrier will complicate Hamas' plans, but will not be enough to seal off the group's smuggling networks. Egypt, meanwhile, is demonstrating its willingness to incur the political backlash of cracking down on Hamas as long as the group continues to act as a proxy for Iran.