The Palestine Chronicle / December 2, 2024
Egypt’s foreign minister met with the UN Deputy Secretary-General on the sidelines of the Cairo Ministerial Conference to Enhance the Humanitarian Response in Gaza.
Egypt has renewed its rejection of Israeli military presence at the Rafah crossing and Philadelphi Corridor on the border with the besieged Gaza Strip.
“Egypt rejects the Israeli military presence on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor, and the obstruction of humanitarian aid,” Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said during a meeting in Cairo with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, on Monday, the Anadolu news agency reported.
The meeting occurred on the sidelines of the Cairo Ministerial Conference to Enhance the Humanitarian Response in Gaza.
The Israeli army captured the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza in May during its offensive on Rafah city. The terminal is a vital route for humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been under a crippling blockade since 2007.
Israel’s refusal
Tel Aviv has rejected Egyptian calls to withdraw forces from the Philadelphi Corridor, a demilitarized zone on the Egypt-Gaza border, said Anadolu.
Abdelatty underlined the importance of rallying international efforts to allow access to humanitarian aid into Gaza, said Anadolu, citing a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
During the meeting, the top Egyptian diplomat and UN official discussed Egypt’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to reach a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed over Netanyahu’s refusal to halt the war, reported Anadolu.
Ongoing genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,466 Palestinians have, to date, been killed, and 105,358 wounded.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Famine
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
