Egypt's President Praises Gulf Support

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during the "Differently Abled" event in New Cairo (Egyptian presidential website)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during the "Differently Abled" event in New Cairo (Egyptian presidential website)
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Egypt's President Praises Gulf Support

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during the "Differently Abled" event in New Cairo (Egyptian presidential website)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during the "Differently Abled" event in New Cairo (Egyptian presidential website)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi thanked the UAE and its President, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, for the vast Emirati investment deal as part of the Ras el-Hekma project.
On Friday, Egypt signed an investment partnership agreement with the United Arab Emirates to develop the Ras al-Hikma peninsula west of Alexandria, with investments worth $150 billion. It includes pumping about $35 billion in direct foreign investment into the Egyptian treasury within two months.
"I want to thank our brothers in the UAE, led by my brother, his Excellency the President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed," Sisi said while attending a "Differently Abled" event in New Cairo.
"I want to tell you it is not easy for anyone to deposit $35 billion over two months; there is nothing like that in the world ... This is a form of support and standing (with us), clearly," Sisi added.
He pointed out that every measure, problem, or crisis that occurs anywhere in the world has an impact on Egypt, referring to the COVID-19 crisis, which was followed by the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and then the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip.
Egypt is struggling to provide the foreign currency necessary to import goods and has to meet the deadlines for foreign debt maturities and a budget deficit.
Sisi announced that the Central Bank received the first tranche of UAE's multi billion-US dollar investment on Tuesday, and the second tranche will arrive on Friday.
According to the Egyptian Official Gazette, Sisi issued a presidential decree allocating a plot of state-owned land with an area of 170.8 million square meters in the Matrouh governorate to develop Ras el-Hekma city.
Egypt hopes this project will become "the largest tourism project on the Mediterranean."
- Difficult challenges
The Egyptian President stated that the world and region face numerous challenges and crises, necessitating unity, resilience, and action.
"We have chosen the path of patience, sacrifice, and confidence in our abilities, inspired by the determination and success of our people, especially our children."
- Egypt did not close Rafah crossing
Sisi asserted that his country has always kept the Rafah border crossing with Gaza open.
"Egypt has never closed the crossing, but to be able to act in a fighting situation, we have to be cautious not to cause a problem," he said.
"From the first day, we have been very keen that the Rafah crossing becomes an avenue to deliver aid."



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.