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Egypt Pushing to Break Impasse over Gaza Aid, Calls Bombardment ‘Collective Punishment’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, Sunday Oct. 15, 2023. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, Sunday Oct. 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Egypt Pushing to Break Impasse over Gaza Aid, Calls Bombardment ‘Collective Punishment’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, Sunday Oct. 15, 2023. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, Sunday Oct. 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Egypt said on Sunday it had stepped up diplomatic efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza and its president told visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel's bombardment of the territory was disproportional.

"The reaction went beyond the right to self-defense, turning into collective punishment for 2.3 million people in Gaza," President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said of Israel's retaliatory strikes for Hamas militants' attacks a week ago.

Aid from several countries has been building up in Egypt's Sinai peninsula due to a failure to reach a deal enabling its safe delivery to Gaza along with evacuations of some foreign passport holders through the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

Israeli bombardments on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing into Egypt, the main crossing out of Gaza not controlled by Israel, have disrupted operations there.

There is alarm in Egypt over the prospect that residents in Gaza could be displaced by Israel's siege and bombardment.

Like other Arab states, it has said Palestinians should stay on their lands and that it is working to secure delivery of aid.

A statement from Sisi's office, issued after a meeting of the national security council, said Egypt rejected any plan to displace Palestinians "to the detriment of other countries" and that Egypt's own security was a red line.

Sisi also proposed a summit to discuss the crisis, according to the statement.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told CNN on Saturday that the Rafah crossing was open but the roads leading to it in Gaza were "inoperable" due to Israeli bombardment. He said that if foreign nationals were able to cross the border Egypt would facilitate their departure to their home countries.

The United States has been part of the diplomatic push to facilitate aid and evacuations through Rafah and told its citizens in Gaza on Saturday they could move closer to the crossing in case it opened.

Eight planes laden with aid from Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Tunisia, and the World Health Organization have landed in Sinai's Al Arish airport in recent days and a convoy of more than 100 trucks is waiting in the city awaiting permission to enter Gaza, according to the Egyptian Red Crescent.

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HRW: Both Warring Parties in Sudan Acquired New Weapons

Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
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HRW: Both Warring Parties in Sudan Acquired New Weapons

Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)

Both warring parties in Sudan, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have newly acquired modern foreign-made weapons and military equipment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Monday.

It called on the UN Security Council to renew and expand the arms embargo and its restrictions on the Darfur region to all of Sudan and hold violators to account.

HRW said it analyzed 49 photos and videos, most apparently filmed by fighters from both sides, posted on the social media platforms Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, and X, showing weapons used or captured in the conflict.

The apparently new equipment includes armed drones, drone jammers, anti-tank guided missiles, truck-mounted multi-barrel rocket launchers, and mortar munitions, and are produced by companies registered in China, Iran, Russia and Serbia.

Although HRW did not specify how the warring parties acquired the new equipment, it noted that the Sudan conflict is one of the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights crises.

“The warring parties are committing atrocities with impunity, and the newly acquired weapons and equipment are likely to be used in the commission of further crimes,” it said.

HRW warned that the SAF and the RSF may use such weapons and equipment to continue to commit war crimes and other serious human rights violations not just in Darfur, but across the country.

It said the UN Security Council is expected to decide on September 11 whether to renew the Sudan sanctions regime, which prohibits the transfer of military equipment to the Darfur region.

The organization noted that since April 2023, the new conflict has affected most of Sudan’s states, but Security Council members have yet to take steps to expand the arms embargo to the whole country.

HRW said its findings demonstrate both the inadequacy of the current Darfur-only embargo and the grave risks posed by the acquisition of new weapons by the warring parties.

“A countrywide arms embargo would contribute to addressing these issues by facilitating the monitoring of transfers to Darfur and preventing the legal acquisition of weapons for use in other parts of Sudan,” it stressed.

The NGO said that the Sudanese government has opposed an expansion of the arms embargo and in recent months has lobbied members of the Security Council to end the sanctions regime and remove the Darfur embargo altogether.

“The prevalence of atrocities by the warring parties creates a real risk that weapons or equipment acquired by the parties would most likely be used to perpetuate serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law, harming civilians,” HRW wrote in its report.

It therefore called on the Security Council to publicly condemn individual governments that are violating the existing arms embargo on Darfur and take urgently needed measures to sanction individuals and entities that are violating the embargo.