Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued a strong message to Israel on Thursday, following the IDF taking control of the Philadelphi Corridor. "The blockade on Gaza must be lifted," he said in the visit attended by the leaders of Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. "I call on the international community to provide immediate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and to end the blockade imposed by Israel."
El-Sisi who was visiting China, also urged the world to prevent Israel's alleged efforts to relocate Palestinians within the Gaza Strip. "I call on the international community to fulfill its moral and legal obligations to stop the brutal war that Israel is conducting in Gaza. We must act quickly to provide humanitarian aid to the residents of the Strip." The Egyptian president concluded, "Only an independent Palestinian state is the solution."
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Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Kerem Shalom crossing, Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photo:Christophe Ena / POOL / AFP, Haim Goldberg/Flash90, Shannon Stapleton/REUTERS)
As in all his public appearances, el-Sisi avoided mentioning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by name. He also didn't mention the Egyptian soldier killed on Monday in a clash with IDF forces at the Rafah border crossing.
The Egyptian president rejected Israel's claim about tunnel shafts located along the Philadelphi Corridor. "All tunnel shafts have been destroyed and flooded with water," Cairo had asserted while Israel recently said it had destroyed 50 tunnels crossing from the Strip into Egypt.
Israel has expressed concern about tunnels that could be used for smuggling weapons, military equipment, and even people, including Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Israel further claimed that Egypt has maintained a policy of looking away from the issue of tunnels within its territory. "We showed patience with Egypt, but we could no longer tolerate the existence of tunnels used for smuggling," a senior Israeli official said.
There's no doubt this is one of the most challenging periods for the peace agreements between Egypt and Israel, despite both sides agreeing that they will hold despite the war.
Meanwhile, the joint operations between the Egyptian and Israeli armies against jihadist terrorists in Sinai continue. Egypt consults and updates Israel, which allows the Egyptian air force to deploy more weapons and military equipment to the area despite formal agreements between the countries that prohibits it.
Both Cairo and Jerusalem describe the cooperation in Sinai as "very good." For example, the number of soldiers and officers in Sinai increased from 20,000 to over 66,000. Egypt pressed, and Israel agreed to increase the Egyptian army and police forces in Sinai.
El-Sisi even spoke of the "close cooperation between the sides," in an interview with an Egyptian journalist.
"There will be no transfer of Palestinians from Gaza to Egyptian or Jordanian territories. This is a red line for us," El-Sisi said. According to various reports, Egypt allowed over 100,000 Gazans to cross into its territory after paying money at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.