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Egypt Says Ethiopia’s Posturing over Nile Dam Threatens Regional Security

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. (Reuters)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. (Reuters)
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Egypt Says Ethiopia’s Posturing over Nile Dam Threatens Regional Security

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. (Reuters)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. (Reuters)

With the fierce crisis persisting over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Egypt has been upping its rhetoric against Addis Ababa, accusing it of undermining regional stability.

“Ethiopia’s policy on the GERD is a further assertion of the unilateral nature of its regional conduct that has resulted in continuing harm and suffering for multitudes of our African brethren,” it said.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Friday in which it rejected the Ethiopian foreign ministry’s statement on the Arab League stance on GERD altogether.

Cairo, in the statement, urged the international community to join the Arab League in taking cognizance of Ethiopia’s continuing defiance and unilateralism, which threaten to undermine regional stability and security.

“This statement is inappropriate, undiplomatic, and constitutes an unacceptable affront to the Arab League and its member states. The fact that the Arab League adopted a resolution calling on Ethiopia to respect the applicable rules of international law and not to undertake unilateral measures that could harm Egyptian riparian rights and interests is a testament to the extent to which Ethiopia unilaterally considers its interests not only as superseding, but also superior to, the collective interests of the sovereign states of the Arab League which it seeks to suppress,” it added.

The Arab League voiced rejection of any infringement of Egypt’s historical rights to the waters of the River Nile.

This came at the end of the 153rd session of the Arab League Council, which kicked off on March 4 at the level of foreign ministers.

“This resolution adopted by the Arab League reflects dismay and discontent at Ethiopia’s track record throughout the endless rounds of negotiations on the GERD, particularly since the conclusion of the 2015 Agreement on Declaration of Principles (DoP),” continued the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

“Ethiopia’s posture and position during these negotiations, which has been criticized by the Arab League, evinces its intent to exercise hydro-hegemony and to anoint itself as the unchallenged and sole beneficiary over the Nile.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is expected to kick off on Sunday an Arab tour, starting from Jordan. He will also visit Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

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Israeli Soldiers Open Fire inside a West Bank Hospital While Searching for Fighters’ Bodies

Israeli troops enter the complex of the Turkish hospital, where they searched for the bodies of those killed in an airstrike, Israel said was targeting fighters, in the West Bank city of Tubas, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (AP)
Israeli troops enter the complex of the Turkish hospital, where they searched for the bodies of those killed in an airstrike, Israel said was targeting fighters, in the West Bank city of Tubas, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (AP)
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Israeli Soldiers Open Fire inside a West Bank Hospital While Searching for Fighters’ Bodies

Israeli troops enter the complex of the Turkish hospital, where they searched for the bodies of those killed in an airstrike, Israel said was targeting fighters, in the West Bank city of Tubas, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (AP)
Israeli troops enter the complex of the Turkish hospital, where they searched for the bodies of those killed in an airstrike, Israel said was targeting fighters, in the West Bank city of Tubas, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (AP)

Israeli soldiers opened fire inside a hospital in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday during a raid to seize the bodies of alleged fighters targeted in earlier airstrikes, a Palestinian doctor working at the hospital told The Associated Press.

Soldiers entered the Turkish Hospital complex in Tubas after the bodies of two Palestinians killed and one wounded in airstrikes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday were brought there, said Dr. Mahmoud Ghanam, who works in the hospital’s emergency department. The troops briefly handcuffed and arrested Ghanam and another doctor.

“The army entered in a brutal way, and they were shooting inside the emergency department,” said Ghanam. “They handcuffed us and took me and my colleague.”

The military confirmed that its troops were operating around the hospital searching for those targeted in the airstrikes, which they said had hit a militant cell near the Palestinian town of Al-Aqaba in the Jordan Valley. It denied that troops had entered the hospital building or fired gunshots inside.

The soldiers left after learning that the wounded man had been transferred to another hospital, Ghanam said. The soldiers wanted to take the bodies of the two men killed in the strike, but the hospital’s manager refused to hand over the bodies, Ghanam said.

Israeli raids on hospitals in the West Bank are rare but have grown more common since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. In Gaza, Israeli troops have systematically besieged, raided and damaged many hospitals.

About 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis — attacks which have also been on the rise.

Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three territories for an independent state.