(Cairo) Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said Thursday that residents of the Gaza Strip must “stay on their land”, amid calls for Egypt to allow safe passage for fleeing civilians the Gaza Strip are multiplying.
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.
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.
Egypt is committed to ensuring the delivery of “aid, both medical and humanitarian, during this difficult period,” Sisi said, reiterating his country’s “firm stance” in guaranteeing “legitimate rights » of the Palestinians.
PHOTO MICHEL EULER, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi
But during a military ceremony, he stressed that Gazans must be “unwavering and stay on 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, electricity and food supplies have been 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.
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 advocates for a diplomatic solution and calls for restraint on both sides.
On Thursday, Mr. Sissi stressed that his country’s national security was his “primary responsibility,” noting that Egypt was already welcoming “nine million guests, as I call them, from many countries seeking security and protection”.
The case of the inhabitants of Gaza is nevertheless “different”, because their displacement would mean “the elimination of the Palestinian cause”, he added.
In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to normalize relations with Israel.