Palestinians inspect damage to a house hit by Israeli attacks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 11, 2023. Portal/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa acquires license rights
- The aid would be provided under a limited ceasefire
- The US said safe passage for civilians was under discussion
- Gaza-Egypt border crossing closed after Israeli attacks
CAIRO, Oct 11 (Portal) – Egypt has discussed plans with the United States and others to deliver humanitarian aid across its border with the Gaza Strip, but rejects any attempt to establish safe corridors for refugees fleeing the enclave, said Egyptian security sources said on Wednesday.
Gaza, a tiny coastal strip between Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the southwest, is home to about 2.3 million people who have lived under a blockade since the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas took power in 2007.
Egypt has long restricted the flow of Gazans into its territory, even during the most intense conflicts.
Cairo, a frequent mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, always insists that both sides resolve conflicts within their borders, saying this is the only way for the Palestinians to secure their right to statehood.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that essential supplies such as fuel, food and water would be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip.
“We now need rapid and unhindered humanitarian access,” he told reporters, thanking Egypt “for its constructive commitment to facilitating humanitarian access through the Rafah border crossing and making El Arish airport available for urgent assistance.”
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric later said: “Civilians must be protected. We don’t want to see a mass exodus of Gaza residents.”
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said late Tuesday that the U.S. had been in discussions with Israel and Egypt about the idea of safe passage for civilians from Gaza, which was launched in response to a deadly incursion by Hamas militants from a massive Israeli attack Attack came to Israel.
One of the security sources, who did not want to be named, said Egypt rejected the idea of safe corridors for civilians to protect “the Palestinians’ right to hold on to their cause and their land.”
Camps for Palestinian refugees, who are descendants of those who left their homeland when Israel was founded in 1948, still exist in several Arab states. The Palestinians and other Arab states have said any final peace deal must include the right of these refugees to return – a step Israel has always rejected.
LIMITED GUN FIRE
Egypt has intensified its efforts to contain the situation in Gaza, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani at a meeting in Cairo, a statement from Sisi’s office said.
According to Egyptian security sources, talks between Egypt and the United States, Qatar and Turkey discussed the idea of delivering humanitarian aid through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula under a geographically limited ceasefire.
The border crossing, which is the main exit point from the Gaza Strip, which is not controlled by Israel, has been closed since Tuesday after Israeli bombings hit the Palestinian side, according to Gaza officials and Egyptian sources.
Egypt has repeatedly warned this week about the possibility that Israel’s attack on Gaza could lead to the displacement of residents of the enclave into Egyptian territory.
Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, Amira Oron, said in a post on social media that Israel “has no intentions regarding Sinai and has not asked Palestinians to move there…Sinai is Egyptian territory.”
Asked about the prospect of displacement after a meeting with Tajani, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said: “Egypt was keen to open the Rafah crossing to provide humanitarian aid, food and medicine, but instability and the expansion of the conflict are leading to more hardship and “more refugees to safe areas, including Europe.”
Additional reporting by Omar Abdel Razak, Ahmed Elimam and Michelle Nichols; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Edited by Alison Williams and Toby Chopra
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