Egypt refuses Israel’s policy of ‘distorting facts’, holds it responsible for humanitarian crisis in Gaza

CAIRO – 14 May 2024: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry affirmed on Tuesday Egypt's categorical rejection of Israel’s policy of ‘distorting facts’ and ‘shirking responsibility’.

The Egyptian official statements come in response to the Israeli Foreign Minister's statements demanding the reopening of the Rafah crossing and holding Egypt responsible for preventing a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Shoukry stressed that Israel is solely responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe that the Palestinians are currently facing in the Gaza Strip.

Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs considered the Israeli control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, the military operations in the vicinity of the crossing border, and the resulting exposure of the lives of relief workers and truck drivers to imminent dangers, as the main reason for the inability to bring aid through the crossing.

Minister Shoukry strongly denounced the ‘desperate attempts’ of the Israeli side to hold Egypt responsible for the unprecedented humanitarian crisis facing the Gaza Strip.

He stressed that everything that is happening currently is a direct result of the indiscriminate Israeli attacks against the Palestinians for more than seven months, which resulted in the killing of more than 35,000 citizens, most of them women and children.

Shoukry called on Israel to fulfill its legal responsibility as an ‘occupying power’, by allowing aid to enter through the land ports under its control.

A high-level source denied on Tuesday Israel’s Foreign Minister's statements about Egypt’s responsibility for closing the Rafah crossing.

The source affirmed that the closure of the crossing is due to the ‘unjustified escalation’ carried out by Israel in the Palestinian city of Rafah.

The source added that Egypt informed Israel of the danger of continuing to prevent humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip.

Another informed source said that there were disagreements within the Israeli government over the failure to prepare a relief plan for the citizens of the Gaza Strip and to protect employees of international organizations working in the Strip.

The source explained that the killing of the United Nations employee in Gaza on Monday confirms the Israeli government’s blunder in its dealings with incidents in the Strip.