2023-10-12 22:12:45
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said this Thursday, October 12, that the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip must “stay on their land”as calls grow for Egypt to allow safe passage for civilians fleeing the Gaza Strip.
This Palestinian enclave has suffered a series of Israeli airstrikes since Hamas, the ruling Islamist movement classified as “terrorist” by the United States and the European Union, launched a deadly attack in Israel on Saturday, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
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In the Gaza Strip, local authorities have recorded more than 1,400 deaths following Israeli retaliatory strikes. Cairo, a traditional mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, oversees the Rafah crossing, the only exit point from the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Israel.
“The scale and savagery of the attacks amount to political suicide for Hamas”
Egypt is committed to ensuring delivery “help, both medical and humanitarian, during this difficult period”declared Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, reiterating the “firm position” of his country consisting of guaranteeing the “legitimate rights” Palestinians. But during a military ceremony, he stressed that Gazans must show themselves “unshakeable and remain on their land”.
“Choose between death under Israeli bombing or displacement from their land”
The Gaza Strip, a poor territory home to 2.4 million Palestinians, has been under an Israeli blockade since Hamas took power there in 2007. Since the Islamist movement’s attack on October 7, water supplies, electricity and food were cut off by Israel.
Egypt has called on donors to send humanitarian aid intended for Gaza to Al-Arich airport, 50 kilometers from the Rafah border crossing, but opposes the idea of letting Palestinians flee enter its territory.
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In recent days, Egyptian media, citing senior security officials, have warned of a mass exodus of Palestinians, forced to “choose between death under Israeli bombardment or displacement from their land”. Egypt pleads for a diplomatic solution and calls for restraint on both sides.
This Thursday, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi stressed that the national security of his country was his “primary responsibility”noting that Egypt was already welcoming “nine million guests, as I call them, coming from many countries in search of security and protection”.
The case of the inhabitants of Gaza is nevertheless ” different “because their movement would mean “the elimination of the Palestinian cause”, he added. In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to normalize relations with Israel.
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