The U.S. State Department announced this week that Egypt has formally joined the International Stabilization Force for Gaza, posting photographs of Egyptian military personnel and describing Cairo’s contribution as “critically important” to the mission’s success. On its face, this looks like meaningful progress toward the Phase 2 commitments of the Sharm el-Sheikh ceasefire agreement. In reality, Egypt’s participation reveals precisely why the force cannot accomplish what Phase 2 actually demands.

The problem is not Egypt’s involvement. The problem is Egypt’s conditions for it.

Egyptian military and diplomatic officials have been explicit that Cairo does not want the Stabilization Force to carry a “peace enforcement” mandate. In the language of their own experts, a peace enforcement role would mean “military confrontation with Palestinian resistance elements,” and that is something Cairo will not accept. Read plainly, Egypt is willing to deploy troops to monitor crossings, oversee aid flows, and watch Israel withdraw from territory it controls. Egypt is not willing to disarm Hamas. That distinction is not a footnote. It is the entire problem.

Phase 2 of the ceasefire framework was premised on a Gaza that is moving toward permanent calm, which requires, at........

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