Austin, Gallant Discuss Israeli Military Operation in Khan Younis

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meets with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, on March 9, 2023 (File/Reuters)
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meets with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, on March 9, 2023 (File/Reuters)
TT

Austin, Gallant Discuss Israeli Military Operation in Khan Younis

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meets with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, on March 9, 2023 (File/Reuters)
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meets with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, on March 9, 2023 (File/Reuters)

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin raised on Thursday with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, the need for a credible plan to ensure the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering in Rafah in the Gaza Strip before any military operations proceed there.

In a phone call, the two sides discussed the Israel military operations in Khan Younis, a Pentagon readout said.

Austin also raised the need to improve the deconfliction process with humanitarian groups.

He stressed the importance of more aid reaching Palestinian civilians, as looting and violence hinder access to humanitarian convoys in Gaza.



Egypt’s Parliament Speaker Rejects Proposals for Taking in Palestinians from Gaza

 Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
TT

Egypt’s Parliament Speaker Rejects Proposals for Taking in Palestinians from Gaza

 Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)

Egypt’s parliament speaker on Monday strongly rejected proposals to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, saying this could spread conflict to other parts of the Middle East.

The comments by Hanfy el-Gebaly, speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives, came a day after US President Donald Trump urged Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza.

El-Gebaly, who didn’t address Trump’s comments directly, told a parliament session Monday that such proposals "are not only a threat to the Palestinians but also they also represent a severe threat to regional security and stability.”

“The Egyptian House of Representatives completely rejects any arrangements or attempts to change the geographical and political reality for the Palestinian cause,” he said.

On Sunday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement rejecting any “temporary or long-term” transfer of Palestinians out of their territories.

The ministry warned that such a move “threatens stability, risks expanding the conflict in the region and undermines prospects of peace and coexistence among its people.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right governing partners have long advocated what they describe as the voluntary emigration of large numbers of Palestinians and the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza.

Human rights groups have already accused Israel of ethnic cleansing, which United Nations experts have defined as a policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove the civilian population of another group from certain areas “by violent and terror-inspiring means.”