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Sisi Says International Community Must Work to Settle Palestinian File

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (Egyptian Presidency)
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Sisi Says International Community Must Work to Settle Palestinian File

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (Egyptian Presidency)

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi stressed “the importance of serious action by the international community towards a just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue, in accordance with the references of international legitimacy.”
He noted that Egypt continues its efforts to accelerate the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, in order to alleviate the sufferings of the Palestinians.
On Wednesday, Sisi received a phone call from the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida. According to a statement by the Egyptian presidential spokesman, Ahmed Fahmy, the two officials exchanged views regarding developments in the regional situation and in the Palestinian territories.
The statement added that the Japanese prime minister listened to Sisi’s view on the means to calm the escalation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and the efforts aimed at “stabilizing the ongoing truce and building on it towards a permanent ceasefire.”
The conversation touched on Egyptian efforts to provide relief aid to the people of the Gaza Strip, Fahmy said, noting that Fumio expressed his country’s appreciation for Cairo’s role and efforts on various axes related to the current crisis and stability in the region.
Meanwhile, the Rafah border crossing witnessed a remarkable improvement in terms of delivery of relief aid to the Palestinians and the transfer of foreigners and the wounded.
The head of the Egyptian State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, said on Wednesday: “The volume of medical aid that was brought into the Gaza Strip as of Tuesday evening amounted to 2,973 tons, while the volume of food aid amounted to 11,972 tons, and water 9,111 tons, in addition to 2,611 tons of other relief materials.”
Rashwan stated that Egypt received, during the same period, 575 injured persons from Gaza for treatment in Egyptian hospitals, along with about 320 companions. Moreover, around 8,691 foreigners and dual nationals crossed to Egypt from Gaza, while 421 stranded Palestinians returned to the Strip.
Meanwhile, Egypt marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, on Wednesday, by calling on the international community to “take serious and decisive action to stop the grave Israeli violations against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the entire occupied Palestinian territory.”
According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt called for “a permanent and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to spare the blood of innocent people, and to provide the necessary relief and humanitarian aid in an adequate and sustainable manner, in order to deal with the unprecedented humanitarian tragedy to which the Palestinian people are exposed.”
The statement continued: “Stability in the Middle East will not be achieved except through a just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution and the relevant decisions of international legitimacy, which requires the international community to come together with all seriousness to implement the two-state solution and embody the independent Palestinian state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

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Arab World

Palestinian Envoy Tells UN Court that Israel is Killing Civilians and Targeting Aid Workers in Gaza

A Palestinian flag flies outside the International Court of Justice, rear, which opened hearings into a United Nations request for an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations to allow humanitarian assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
A Palestinian flag flies outside the International Court of Justice, rear, which opened hearings into a United Nations request for an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations to allow humanitarian assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
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Palestinian Envoy Tells UN Court that Israel is Killing Civilians and Targeting Aid Workers in Gaza

A Palestinian flag flies outside the International Court of Justice, rear, which opened hearings into a United Nations request for an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations to allow humanitarian assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
A Palestinian flag flies outside the International Court of Justice, rear, which opened hearings into a United Nations request for an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations to allow humanitarian assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

A Palestinian diplomat has told the United Nations’ top court that Israel is killing and displacing civilians and targeting aid workers in Gaza in a “man-made catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.”

Ambassador Ammar Hijazi was speaking Monday at the opening of a week of hearings at the International Court of Justice into Israel’s legal obligations to facilitate aid in the occupied territories, The Associated Press said.

Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff.

The United Nations’ highest court opened hearings Monday into Israel’s obligation to “ensure and facilitate” urgently needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories, bringing the ongoing conflict in Gaza back into focus in The Hague.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the hearings part of a “systematic persecution and delegitimization” of his country. Speaking in Jerusalem as the hearings began in The Hague, Saar said the court was “becoming completely politicized.” He called the proceeding “shameful.”

A week of hearings has been scheduled in response to a request last year from the UN General Assembly, which asked the International Court of Justice to weigh in on Israel’s legal responsibilities after the country blocked the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from operating on its territory.

In a resolution sponsored by Norway, the General Assembly requested an advisory opinion, a non-binding but legally important decision from the court, on Israel's obligations in the occupied territories to "ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population?”

Hearings open as the humanitarian aid system in Gaza is nearing collapse. Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian supplies since March 2. It renewed its bombardment on March 18, breaking a ceasefire, and seized large parts of the territory, saying it aims to push Hamas to release more hostages. Despite the stepped-up Israeli pressure, ceasefire efforts remain deadlocked.

The World Food Program said last week its food stocks in the Gaza Strip have run out under Israel’s nearly 8-week-old blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory. Many families are struggling to feed their children.

The United Nations was the first to address the court on Monday, followed by Palestinian representatives. In total, 40 states and four international organizations are scheduled to participate. Israel is not scheduled to speak during the hearings, but could submit a written statement. Israel's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The United States, which voted against the UN resolution, is scheduled to speak on Wednesday.

The court will likely take months to rule. But experts say the decision, though not legally binding, could profoundly impact international jurisprudence, international aid to Israel and public opinion.

“Advisory opinions provide clarity,” Juliette McIntyre, an expert on international law at the University of South Australia, told The Associated Press. Governments rely on them in international negotiations and the outcome could be used to pressure Israel into easing restrictions on aid.

Whether any ruling will have an effect on Israel, however, is unclear. Israel has long accused the United Nations of being unfairly biased against it and has ignored a 2004 advisory ruling by the ICJ that found its West Bank separation barrier illegal.

On Tuesday, South Africa, a staunch critic of Israel, will present its arguments. In hearings last year in a separate case at the court, the country accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza — a charge Israel denies. Those proceedings are still underway.

Israel's troubled relations with UNRWA

Israel’s ban on the agency, known as UNRWA, came into effect in January. The organization has faced increased criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who claim the group is deeply infiltrated by Hamas. UNRWA rejects that claim.

Israel alleged that 19 out of UNRWA’s approximately 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and set off the war in Gaza. UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal UN investigation concluded that they could have been involved, although the evidence was not authenticated and corroborated. Israel later alleged that about 100 other Palestinians in Gaza were Hamas members, but never provided any evidence to the United Nations. Israel has also accused Hamas of using UN facilities for cover, building tunnels near UN buildings and diverting aid deliveries for its own use.

The Israeli ban doesn't apply directly to Gaza. But it controls all entry to the territory, and its ban on UNRWA from operating inside Israel greatly limits the agency's ability to function. Israeli officials say they are looking for alternative ways to deliver aid to Gaza that would cut out the United Nations.

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in what is now Israel during the war surrounding Israel's creation the previous year until there is a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The agency has been providing aid and services — including health and education — to some 2.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Israel’s air and ground war has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.