Egypt Pushes for Deliveries of Aid to Gaza

A digger arrives to start removing rubble following an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
A digger arrives to start removing rubble following an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
TT
20

Egypt Pushes for Deliveries of Aid to Gaza

A digger arrives to start removing rubble following an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
A digger arrives to start removing rubble following an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on Thursday for humanitarian relief to be provided to Palestinians inside the Gaza Strip.

Israel's massive bombardment and imposition of a total siege on Gaza has caused alarm in Egypt, which shares a border with the south of the Palestinian enclave and controls the main exit point for the 2.3 million residents living there.

Egypt has said it wants to facilitate the delivery of aid through its Rafah crossing, but has also signaled its rejection of Gaza residents being forced south across the border.

In a phone call with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, al-Sisi "stressed the need to guarantee the regularity of humanitarian services and relief to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip," the Egyptian president’s office said in a statement.

Sisi also informed Sunak of Egypt's "continuing efforts to push for the pursuit of calm and utmost restraint to prevent sliding into bloodshed, the price of which will be paid by more innocent people, and whose consequences will extend to the entire region", the statement said.

Israel, which is retaliating for a deadly incursion by Hamas gunmen into Israel, said on Thursday there would be no humanitarian break to its siege of Gaza until all its hostages were freed.

Egypt also said on Thursday it was directing international aid for Gaza to Al Arish airport in the north of the Sinai Peninsula.

The nearby Rafah crossing between Sinai and Gaza remained open, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that Egypt had asked Israel to avoid targeting the Palestinian side of the crossing after strikes that prevented normal operations there.

 



Iraq Holds Kurdish Government Legally Responsible for Continued Oil Smuggling

Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
TT
20

Iraq Holds Kurdish Government Legally Responsible for Continued Oil Smuggling

Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo

Iraq's oil ministry said on Thursday it holds the Kurdish regional government (KRG) legally responsible for the continued smuggling of oil from the Kurdish region outside the country.

The ministry reserves the right to take all legal measures in the matter, it added.

Control over oil and gas has long been a source of tension between Baghdad and Erbil, Reuters reported.

Iraq is under pressure from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output to compensate for having produced more than its agreed volume. OPEC counts oil flows from Kurdistan as part of Iraq's quota.

In a ruling issued in 2022, Iraq's federal court deemed an oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in Iraqi Kurdistan unconstitutional and demanded that Kurdish authorities hand over their crude oil supplies.

The ministry said the KRG’s failure to comply with the law has hurt both oil exports and public revenue, forcing Baghdad to cut output from other fields to meet OPEC quotas.

The ministry added that it had urged the KRG to hand over crude produced from its fields, warning that failure to do so could result in significant financial losses and harm the country’s international reputation and oil commitments.

Negotiations to resume Kurdish oil exports via the Iraq-Türkiye oil pipeline, which once handled about 0.5% of global oil supply, have stalled over payment terms and contract details.