Egypt tightens its rhetoric on Gaza and promises to prevent Palestinian displacement
Egypt stepped up its criticism of Israel’s Gaza offensive on Friday, saying it would not stand for the wholesale displacement of Palestinians and what it called genocide, as hundreds of Gaza City residents refused to leave the city despite Israeli orders.
“Displacement is not an option and it is a red line for Egypt and we will not allow it to happen,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty was told by reporters in Nicosia.
“Displacement means liquidation and the end of the Palestinian cause and there is no legal or moral or ethical ground to evict people from their homeland,” according to him.
Although Israel has been working with Qatar and the United States to try to mediate a ceasefire in the almost two-year-old war, his remarks are consistent with a hardening of Egyptian discourse this year against Israel’s actions in the enclave, which borders Egypt.
He went on to reiterate the genocide charges made against Israel by the Egyptian government in recent months, saying: “What is occurring on the ground is far beyond the imagination.” Mass civilian deaths and Israeli-inflicted artificial hunger are examples of the genocide taking on there, Abdelatty stated.
A request for comment from Israeli authorities was not immediately answered.
Israel claims that its actions in Gaza are justifiable as self-defense and has previously vehemently rejected that they constitute genocide. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the international court of justice in The Hague’s case against it “outrageous” and accuses it of genocide.
Following an attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel that resulted in 1,200 fatalities and the return of 250 hostages to Gaza, Israel began its offensive on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
According to Gaza health officials, more than 64,000 Palestinians have now been murdered, leaving the heavily populated territory in ruins and its citizens in a humanitarian crisis.
According to Netanyahu, Israel launched an offensive on Gaza City on August 10 in an effort to defeat Hamas militants in the area of Gaza where Israeli troops engaged in the most intense fighting during the early stages of the conflict. Approximately 40% of Gaza City is currently under its control, a military official stated on Thursday.
The first weeks of the battle, from October to November 2023, saw the destruction of much of Gaza City. Prior to the conflict, there were about a million residents, and hundreds of thousands are thought to have returned to dwell among the rubble, particularly since Israel ordered civilians to leave other places and conducted offensives elsewhere.
