Cairo – 21 November 2023: President Abdel Fattah al Sisi said, Egypt is exerting tireless and unwavering efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
He added in his speech at the Extraordinary Virtual Meeting of BRICS Leaders on Tuesday, that Egypt has opened the Rafah border crossing “since the very first moment to allow humanitarian aid and relief to enter into the sector. It has designated Al Arish airport to receive aid from world countries.”
Sisi explained that “the mechanisms placed by the Israeli authorities have obstructed the delivery of aid to its beneficiaries. Therefore, the aid entering Gaza is much less than the needs of its people.”
Sisi said that the current situation “requires the international community to ensure the delivery of aid in the adequate quantities for the sustainability of the people of Gaza.”
At the beginning of his speech, Sisi expressed appreciation for the invitation to attending the BRICS Leaders meeting, He extend sincere gratitude for the decision by the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg to invite Egypt to join the grouping.
Sisi said that the summit comes at a ‘critical juncture’, as the Palestinian people are witnessing a continuous escalation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank that has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians, two-thirds of them women and children.
He added that the entire sector endured indiscriminate retribution, siege and deprivation of sustenance as well as coerced displacement efforts. These appalling humanitarian scenes came to expose the inability of the international community and the inertia of human conscience.
“Egypt has welcomed international efforts aimed at achieving a ceasefire and protecting civilians in the Gaza Strip, primarily UN Security Council Resolution 2712, which calls for reaching an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of humanitarian corridors stretched across the sector.” Sisi said.
He added that Egypt is calling on the international community, in this regard, to pressure Israel, as the occupying power, to comply with the implementation of this resolution.
“Egypt has opposed and condemned the killing of civilians from all sides, and at the same time it denounces, in the strongest terms, the targeting of civilians and civilian facilities, particularly hospitals.” Sisi stressed.
He added that Egypt emphasizes that the international community bears humanitarian and political responsibility to save civilians in Gaza and to end these inhumane practices that render life and living in Gaza impossible, forcing people to abandon their homes and lands.
“Egypt has been opposed to pressure exercised on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and stands against attempts to force them to leave their land, whether individually or collectively”, President al Sisi said.
He added that Egypt stands against any attempts to forcibly displace the Palestinians, inside or outside Gaza, especially that Palestinians leaving their land is a grave violation of international law and international humanitarian law. “Also, the proposals of Israel reoccupying the Gaza Strip only make the situation worse and more complicated.”
Sisi said that the international community “stands silent before the unjustified violence by settlers against the Palestinians in the West Bank and the daily military incursions by the Israeli army in the West Bank, which are all unacceptable policies that contribute to igniting the region and increasing areas of tension in it.”
President Sisi noted that the Egyptian priorities are currently “to stop the bloodshed through an immediate ceasefire, deliver humanitarian aid safely and sustainably, and avoid targeting civilians and civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip.”
“We stress the need to resolve the roots of the conflict and deal with the Palestinian issue from a comprehensive and integrated perspective that guarantees the rights of the Palestinians to establish their independent state, along the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.” Sisi concluded.
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