Israel’s The Jerusalem Post reported that “Israel is ready to agree to new security measures that would allow Egypt to hand over control of two islands in the Straits of Tiran to Saudi Arabia,” noting that “U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to announce during his tour of region at the end of the month.

She explained that “Israel has agreed to deploy a multinational force on an island a few kilometers from Egyptian territory.” There is currently a multinational force on the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, which is responsible for patrolling and ensuring freedom of navigation in the area.

The newspaper emphasized: “Saudi Arabia does not want these forces to remain after they regain control of the two islands.” The multinational force has been patrolling the islands, strategically located at the entrance to the Red Sea and the only sea route to Eilat, since Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979.

This condition came about because former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran ahead of the Six Day War in 1967. In response, the newspaper reports that Saudi Arabia will allow Israeli airlines to fly over its airspace. Currently, only Israeli flights to the Emirates and Bahrain can fly over the kingdom, in addition to Air India flights to and from Israel.