Egypt’s president, Turkey’s FM call for urgent humanitarian aid access to Gaza

CAIRO – 14 October 2023: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan affirmed on Saturday the necessity to secure urgent and safe humanitarian aid access to the Gaza Strip.

Sisi received Fidan in Cairo in the presence of Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry and Head of the General Intelligence Service (GIS) Abbas Kamel.

During the meeting, the two sides expressed grave concerns over the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

They also called for sparing people in Gaza the policies of collective punishment through siege, starvation, displacement.

Fidan hailed Egypt’s role in coordinating and facilitating humanitarian and relief aid delivery from various countries & concerned international organizations to the Palestinian people in strip.

Meanwhile, Sisi underscored the importance of coordinated international efforts in this regard to end the exacerbating humanitarian suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

Sisi and Fidan called for a just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian cause in order to push forward a radical and permanent solution to the current exacerbated conditions.

The two sides also called for all parties to back efforts of achieving fair and comprehensive peace on the basis of the two-state solution to protect Palestinians’ legitimate rights and achieve security for peoples of the region.

Sisi and Fidan highlighted the extreme danger of the current military escalation in Gaza and the threat it poses to the stability and security of the region. This requires greater international efforts in order to immediately stop the violence and restore calm, they said.

They also affirmed the need for immediate and effective measures to protect civilians and sparing them the risks of death, displacement and destruction.

Urgent aid access

Egypt has called for the immediate cessation of Israeli bombardment and any military ground operations in the Gaza Strip and highlighted the need to ensure safe access to relief aid.

Over the past days, Al-Arish in Egypt’s northern Sinai received tons of urgent humanitarian aid from many countries to be delivered to the Palestinian people in Gaza, who total more than 2 million people.

Gaza has been under heavy Israeli bombardment over the past week, which killed around 1,900 Palestinians according to the strip authorities and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Moreover, the Israeli army reportedly prepares for a major ground invasion into Gaza, which can lead to further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the enclave.

Since the start of the current conflict, Egypt has been calling for both sides of the conflict to prioritize de-escalation and exercise utmost restraint.

Egypt has also made intensive contacts with international influential parties as well the Palestinian and Israeli sides to contain the situation.

Egypt has warned of the conflict’s consequences on the lives of Palestinian and Israeli civilians and its potential risks on the region’s security and stability.

Moreover, Egypt has stressed keenness to provide aid to the Palestinians in Gaza.