Cairo community president's death reduces city's Jewish population to just five

The five remaining in Cairo, which was home to some 80,000 Jews at the time of Israel's establishment, are thought to be Ms Haroun’s daughter, Magda, who is head of the community, and four granddaughters.

Thousands of Jewish people started to leave Egypt after 1948, many more following in 1956 and 1967.

The Haroun family is said to have stayed in Egypt considering themselves Egyptian first, according to Watani.

Ms Haroun was known as a Jewish anti-Zionist and member of the Communist Party of Egypt.

In 2013 her daughter told Tablet that Ms Haroun, who was married to lawyer and politician Shehata Haroun, was her father’s “comrade.”

According to AFP there were also 12 Jews living in March 2017 in the coastal city of Alexandria.