Syrians Divided over Anniversary of French Withdrawal

Officials at the event at the Hmeimim base. (SANA)
Officials at the event at the Hmeimim base. (SANA)
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Syrians Divided over Anniversary of French Withdrawal

Officials at the event at the Hmeimim base. (SANA)
Officials at the event at the Hmeimim base. (SANA)

Syrian President Bashar Assad received cables of congratulations from several leaders on the 75th anniversary of the French withdrawal from the country.

Two Syrian ministers took part at an event marking the occasion at the Hmeimim Russian air base.

The withdrawal on April 17, 1946 signaled the end of the French mandate over Syria.

Syrian Defense Minister Ali Ayoub vowed during the event at Hmeimim to force the "Turkish and American occupiers" from the country.

He thanked the Russian troops for hosting the event, noting its "rich symbolism". He also underscored the Russian leadership's "keenness on celebrating the Syrian National Day at the Hmeimim base."

This demonstrates the strength of our bilateral relations, he remarked, while vowing to continue the joint efforts to combat takfiri and armed terrorism, which threatens the security and stability of all countries without exception.

The Syrian people are still "valiantly persevering despite the siege and sanctions and until the great victory - that is the defeat of terrorism and withdrawal of every last occupier - is achieved," he declared.

Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tarik sent a cable to Assad, wishing him the "sincerest of congratulations" and hoping that the Syrian people will restore stability in their country, reported the state news agency SANA.

It added that Assad also received a similar cable from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who wished the Syrian people "progress and success." He also expressed a hope to bolster bilateral relations between Damascus and Tehran in all fields.

Opponents of the regime criticized the Hmeimim event, noting the contradiction of it being held at a base held by foreign forces.



US Imposes Sanctions on Israeli Settler West Bank Outposts

FILE - A man looks at graffiti that reads, in Hebrew, "revenge, death to Arabs," allegedly sprayed by Jewish West Bank settlers in the Palestinian West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, Feb. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)
FILE - A man looks at graffiti that reads, in Hebrew, "revenge, death to Arabs," allegedly sprayed by Jewish West Bank settlers in the Palestinian West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, Feb. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)
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US Imposes Sanctions on Israeli Settler West Bank Outposts

FILE - A man looks at graffiti that reads, in Hebrew, "revenge, death to Arabs," allegedly sprayed by Jewish West Bank settlers in the Palestinian West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, Feb. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)
FILE - A man looks at graffiti that reads, in Hebrew, "revenge, death to Arabs," allegedly sprayed by Jewish West Bank settlers in the Palestinian West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, Feb. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)

The US imposed sanctions on two Israeli outposts in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the latest move against settlement activity it says is an obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
The US Treasury Department added two entities, Moshes Farm and Zvis Farm, as well as three Israeli nationals, to its list of sanctioned entities, according to the Office of Foreign Assets Control's website.
Axios reported late on Wednesday, citing three US officials, that the outposts would be targeted with sanctions because they were used as a base for attacks on Palestinians by settlers deemed to be extremist.

The administration in February imposed sanctions on four Israeli men it accused of being involved in settler violence in the West Bank, signaling growing US displeasure with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The administration said at the time that Israel's expansion of settlements in the West Bank was inconsistent with international law.
Israel has stepped up raids in the West Bank since the Gaza war began in October. United Nations' records show at least 358 people in the Palestinian territory have been killed since Oct. 7, a quarter of them children.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement Thursday that “there is no justification for extremist violence against civilians or forcing families from their homes, whatever their national origin, ethnicity, race, or religion.”

Currently, nine people and their properties have been sanctioned under the new executive order targeting West Bank settlers according to Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control database.


Aid Group: Survivors Say About 50 People Died on Boat Trip from Libya

The rescue personnel of the SOS Mediteranee's humanitarian ship Ocean Viking attend migrants rescued from a deflating rubber dinghy in the Central Mediterranean Sea, Wednesday, March 12, 2024. (Johanna de Tessieres/ SOS Mediteranee via AP, HO)
The rescue personnel of the SOS Mediteranee's humanitarian ship Ocean Viking attend migrants rescued from a deflating rubber dinghy in the Central Mediterranean Sea, Wednesday, March 12, 2024. (Johanna de Tessieres/ SOS Mediteranee via AP, HO)
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Aid Group: Survivors Say About 50 People Died on Boat Trip from Libya

The rescue personnel of the SOS Mediteranee's humanitarian ship Ocean Viking attend migrants rescued from a deflating rubber dinghy in the Central Mediterranean Sea, Wednesday, March 12, 2024. (Johanna de Tessieres/ SOS Mediteranee via AP, HO)
The rescue personnel of the SOS Mediteranee's humanitarian ship Ocean Viking attend migrants rescued from a deflating rubber dinghy in the Central Mediterranean Sea, Wednesday, March 12, 2024. (Johanna de Tessieres/ SOS Mediteranee via AP, HO)

Survivors aboard a deflating rubber dinghy rescued in the central Mediterranean Sea have reported that some 50 people who departed Libya with them a week ago perished during the journey, the humanitarian rescue group SOS Mediterranee said Thursday.
The European charity’s ship Ocean Viking spotted the dinghy with 25 people on board Wednesday. Two were unconscious, and died, The Associated Press reported. The other 23 were in serious condition, exhausted, dehydrated and with burns from fuel on board the boat.
SOS Mediterranee spokesman Francesco Creazzo said the survivors were all male, 12 of them minors with two of those not yet teen-agers. They were from Senegal, Mali and Gambia.
Creazzo said the survivors were traumatized and unable to give full accounts of what had transpired during the voyage. Humanitarian organizations often rely on accounts of survivors when pulling together the numbers of dead and missing at sea, presumed to have died.
The UN International Organization for Migration says 227 people have died along the perilous central Mediterranean route this year through March 11, not counting the new reported missing and presumed dead. That’s out of a total 279 deaths in the Mediterranean since Jan. 1. A total of 19,562 people arrived in Italy using that route in the period.
The survivors said the boat departed Zawiya, Libya with 75 people on board, including some women and at least one small child. The motor broke sometime after departure.


Egypt Appeals for More Aid Deliveries by Land to Gaza

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (R) and Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares (L) give a joint press conference at the foreign ministry office at the New Administrative Capital (NAC), Egypt, 14 March 2024. EPA/TAREK WAJEH
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (R) and Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares (L) give a joint press conference at the foreign ministry office at the New Administrative Capital (NAC), Egypt, 14 March 2024. EPA/TAREK WAJEH
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Egypt Appeals for More Aid Deliveries by Land to Gaza

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (R) and Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares (L) give a joint press conference at the foreign ministry office at the New Administrative Capital (NAC), Egypt, 14 March 2024. EPA/TAREK WAJEH
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (R) and Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares (L) give a joint press conference at the foreign ministry office at the New Administrative Capital (NAC), Egypt, 14 March 2024. EPA/TAREK WAJEH

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Thursday appealed for an urgent increase in the amount of humanitarian aid going into the besieged Gaza Strip through land crossings.

He said people in the devastated territory cannot wait until a US planned temporary port to be built for sea shipments.

Shoukry spoke during a joint press conference with his Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares in Cairo.

US military representatives were expected in Israel this week to further coordinate a planned US floating pier that will be built off the coast of Gaza.

The United States and other countries have also been airdropping food into northern Gaza in recent weeks to help alleviate the crisis.
But aid groups said air drops and bringing sea shipments are far less efficient and effective than bringing in food by land routes, which Israel has severely restricted.
Shoukry said the sea port is “expected to be completed in two months.”
"What shall we do during those two months? Shall more children continue to die until this port is constructed?” he asked.

President Joe Biden ordered the US military last week to set up a temporary port off the coast of Gaza to carve out a sea route for food and other aid. Pentagon has said the construction of a massive floating pier will take weeks and require as many as 1,000 US troops.

“We should be realistic in dealing with the situation and we cannot afford any delay,” said Shourky. “What we have at our disposal now are land crossings.”


Israeli Fire Kills Six Gazans Awaiting Aid Trucks, Say Palestinian Health Officials

Palestinian children above the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli strikes on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Mohammed ABED / AFP
Palestinian children above the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli strikes on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Mohammed ABED / AFP
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Israeli Fire Kills Six Gazans Awaiting Aid Trucks, Say Palestinian Health Officials

Palestinian children above the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli strikes on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Mohammed ABED / AFP
Palestinian children above the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli strikes on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Mohammed ABED / AFP

Israeli fire killed six Palestinians and wounded dozens of others as crowds of residents awaited aid trucks in Gaza City, Gaza health ministry officials said on Thursday.

Palestinians were rushing to get aid supplies at the Kuwait roundabout in northern Gaza City late on Wednesday evening when Israeli forces opened fire, residents and health officials said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.

The conflict in Gaza has displaced most of the enclave's 2.3 million population and there have been chaotic scenes and deadly incidents at aid distributions as desperately hungry people scramble for food.

On Feb. 29, Palestinian health authorities said Israeli forces shot dead more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery near Gaza City. Israel blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over.

In Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, an Israeli missile hit a house, killing nine people on Thursday, Palestinian medics said. Residents said Israeli aerial and ground bombardments continued overnight on areas across the enclave including in Rafah in the south, where over a million displaced people are sheltering.

The Gaza health ministry said on Thursday Israeli military strikes across Gaza Strip had killed 69 Palestinians and wounded 110 others in the past 24 hours.

With the war now in its sixth month, the UN has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza – one quarter of the population – are on the brink of famine and global pressure has been growing on Israel to allow more access to the enclave.

Israel denies obstructing aid deliveries into Gaza. It has blamed failures by aid agencies for delays and has accused Hamas of diverting aid. Hamas denies this and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon in its military offensive.

A ship carrying aid is currently approaching Gaza in a pilot trial of maritime delivery, that is expected to be followed up by a US military effort to set up a dock on Gaza's coast that will enable distribution of up to two million meals a day.

While welcoming aid ships, Palestinian and UN officials say maritime deliveries are not a substitute for sending aid through land crossings.


Armed Display at a Funeral in Beirut Sparks Fears of Return to Chaos

The funeral of one of the members of the Islamic Group in Beirut, Lebanon (AP)
The funeral of one of the members of the Islamic Group in Beirut, Lebanon (AP)
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Armed Display at a Funeral in Beirut Sparks Fears of Return to Chaos

The funeral of one of the members of the Islamic Group in Beirut, Lebanon (AP)
The funeral of one of the members of the Islamic Group in Beirut, Lebanon (AP)

Armed groups appearing earlier this week in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, particularly during the funeral procession of a fallen fighter from the “Islamic Group,” have stirred concerns among residents.
Many fear a return to chaos, especially with the government’s failure to address the issue.
The Islamic Group bid farewell to three fighters who died in Lebanon’s south, accompanied by masked gunmen, interpreted by some as a show of strength.
The head of the Islamic Group Ali Abu Yassin justified the armed presence, citing the threat from the Israeli enemy.
However, Yassin assured that the Islamic Group is not parading militarily in Beirut, and the display was a reaction to the event, aimed at Israel, not the Lebanese.
“Our project has been and remains to build the state and establish genuine partnership with all Lebanese components. At this critical moment, we call for Lebanese unity in facing the Israeli enemy and its projects,” Yassin told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Beirut hasn’t seen such displays since the civil war’s end, except in 2008 when Hezbollah took military action.
Lebanese lawmaker Melhem Khalaf expressed concern, stating that armed displays indicate an unstable situation.
He stressed the need for a strong state to ensure citizens’ security. Lebanese fear a return to chaos, especially with the state’s focus on military matters in the south and anticipation of Israeli escalation.
Former Minister Rashid Derbas interpreted the armed display as a show of strength for a specific group but assured that it doesn’t mean Beirut will regress into chaos.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he emphasized that chaos is not caused by one group but by major countries if they seek to spread it.
Derbas highlighted the Lebanese army’s capability to maintain security.
Military and strategic expert Col. Khaled Hamadeh suggested the Islamic Group chose armed action under Hezbollah’s umbrella, aiming to support the resistance project.
He expressed regret over the state’s limited ability to control security, highlighting the near absence of official security in Lebanon.


Lebanon: National Moderation Bloc Adamant to Ease Election of President

Speaker Nabih Berri meets with the National Moderation bloc on Saturday. (Parliament)
Speaker Nabih Berri meets with the National Moderation bloc on Saturday. (Parliament)
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Lebanon: National Moderation Bloc Adamant to Ease Election of President

Speaker Nabih Berri meets with the National Moderation bloc on Saturday. (Parliament)
Speaker Nabih Berri meets with the National Moderation bloc on Saturday. (Parliament)

The National Moderation parliamentary bloc reiterated on Thursday that its initiative to help end the vacuum at the top state post and elect a new president are “ongoing” regardless of the obstacles the initiative is facing.
Meanwhile, ambassadors from the group of five countries (the Quintet committee) involved in the Lebanese issue are expected to resume their meetings with Lebanese officials starting next week.
Ambassadors of the Quintet (US, France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar) are expected to meet with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai on Monday.
Hezbollah party, meanwhile, is adamant on backing its candidate, Marada party leader Sleiman Franjieh.
Lebanon has been without a president since October 2022 when the term of Michel Aoun ended without the election of a successor. Bickering between the political blocs over a suitable candidate has thwarted the polls.
Abou Faour
After a brief visit to Saudi Arabia last week, MP Wael Abou Faour of the Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc held talks with Berri.
In a statement on Tuesday, the MP said that ambassadors of the Quintet fully back the initiative of the National Moderation bloc.
He said the first thing the bloc agreed on was to sit for dialogue and to eliminate all the names of candidates that do not garner the approval of all parties.
The bloc has recently met with Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheikh Abdul Latif Deryan.
MP Ahmed al-Kheir, the bloc’s spokesperson said: “The backing we got from the Mufti, the Quintet, Maronite Patriarch and the Maronite Bishops all affirm that the initiative is still going”.
The National Moderation bloc has proposed holding a consultative session at parliament with the aim of agreeing on a presidential candidate and securing the needed two-thirds quorum at parliament at successive elections sessions that would be called for by Berri. The speaker would in turn vow to the bloc to call for the elections.
The bloc has been holding a series of meetings with other blocs to reach an agreement on the mechanism to launch the dialogue, focusing on who will make the invitation for the talks and who will moderate them. The bloc has also demanded that the participants not make any preconditions over the dialogue.


Amnesty Chief: Gaza Aid Port Plans 'Sign Of International Weakness'

Palestinians in Gaza began the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this week under the threat of famine © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
Palestinians in Gaza began the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this week under the threat of famine © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
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Amnesty Chief: Gaza Aid Port Plans 'Sign Of International Weakness'

Palestinians in Gaza began the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this week under the threat of famine © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
Palestinians in Gaza began the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this week under the threat of famine © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP

Efforts to deliver aid to war-torn Gaza by constructing a seaport or through airdrops are a sign of international powerlessness to end the conflict, the head of Amnesty International said Wednesday.

Gaza is suffering a severe humanitarian crisis as Israel's war on Hamas drags on, with the United Nations warning of looming famine as the flow of aid trucks from Egypt has slowed.

With only a small fraction of the basic supplies needed to sustain Gaza's 2.4 million people coming in by land, foreign governments have turned to airdrops and a maritime corridor from Cyprus.

But Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, said nobody was holding Israel to account over the delays to deliveries by land.

"The international community must be prepared to hold Israel to account... We're not holding the stick that will allow for those violations to stop," she said in Madrid.

"So the airdrops, the construction of a port, are a sign of powerlessness and weakness on the part of the international community. Meanwhile, we continue to transfer weapons. That's really unacceptable."

Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden said Washington was planning to establish a temporary port for aid deliveries to Gaza, which the Pentagon said would take up to 60 days and involve 1,000 US personnel.

But Callamard said it was a "huge concern" that the international community seemed to have accepted that the deadly conflict would drag on.

"The proposed investment into building a port and transporting humanitarian assistance via sea appears to indicate that the international community... are expecting the situation to last. Why are you making an investment that is going to take two months?" she said.

"That is extremely worrisome. More than 30,000 people have died."

Her remarks came after Amnesty and 24 other humanitarian organizations issued a statement saying air drops and sea routes were "no alternative to aid delivery by land" as they could only provide a fraction of the assistance.

"Airdrops are unable to provide the volumes of assistance that can be transported by land. While a convoy of five trucks has the capacity to carry about 100 tonnes of lifesaving assistance, recent airdrops delivered only a few tons of aid each," it said.

Callamard said much more was needed.

"We really need to be exploring other means and building a port that's going to take two or three months is just not good enough," she said.

"We need to do far more if we are to uphold international obligations, including the responsibility to prevent genocide."


Aid Ship Slowly Heads For Gaza as Calls For Assistance Grow

A boy sits among the rubble and scattered belongings of a home was destroyed in an Israeli strike in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip - AFP
A boy sits among the rubble and scattered belongings of a home was destroyed in an Israeli strike in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip - AFP
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Aid Ship Slowly Heads For Gaza as Calls For Assistance Grow

A boy sits among the rubble and scattered belongings of a home was destroyed in an Israeli strike in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip - AFP
A boy sits among the rubble and scattered belongings of a home was destroyed in an Israeli strike in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip - AFP

A first boat loaded with 200 tonnes of food aid was making slow progress towards the Gaza Strip on Thursday as efforts grew to bring more humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian territory besieged by Israel.

The main UN aid agency in Gaza said an Israeli strike a day earlier hit one of its warehouses in the southern city of Rafah, killing an employee, although Israel later said a Hamas militant was killed in the rocket strike.

Donor nations, aid agencies and charities pushed on with efforts to rush food to the territory of 2.4 million people, where famine looms after more than five months of war.

Mediation efforts have so far failed to secure a new truce in the war triggered by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed again that Israeli forces "will reach every location" in their mission to destroy the group.

"There is no safe haven for terrorists in Gaza," Gallant said on a tour of the Hamas-ruled territory, according to a video released by his office.

In response to the October 7 attack, Israeli forces have carried out a relentless campaign of air strikes and ground operations in Gaza, killing at least 31,272 people, most of them civilians, according to the territory's health ministry.

The Spanish charity vessel Open Arms was on its way to Gaza from Cyprus, towing a barge with 200 tonnes of aid in the first voyage along a planned maritime corridor to Gaza.

Once near Gaza, the aid will be delivered onto a pier built for the operation by US charity World Central Kitchen, which will then distribute it.

However, airdrops and efforts to open a maritime corridor were "no alternative" to land deliveries because they could only provide a fraction of the aid needed, 25 organizations, including Amnesty International and Oxfam, said in a statement Wednesday.

In Gaza City, desperate Palestinians were awaiting the arrival of the Open Arms aid boat, which the charity operating it said could take days.

Standing on the shore, resident Eid Ayub told AFP that "the aid coming by sea and dropped by air is not enough".

"They send aid, but when this aid arrives, there's no entity to distribute it," he said, complaining of "merchants" who seize supplies and then resell them.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said on Wednesday a second aid ship "with bigger capacity" was being prepared in Larnaca.

Kombos also hosted a virtual meeting on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and senior ministers and officials from Britain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the European Union and the United Nations to discuss the maritime corridor.

"The ministers agreed that there is no meaningful substitute to land routes via Egypt and Jordan and entry points from Israel into Gaza for aid delivery at scale," they said in a joint statement.

They also agreed that opening the Israeli port of Ashdod, north of Gaza, to humanitarian assistance "would be a welcome and significant complement".

Senior officials will gather in Cyprus on Monday for "in-depth" briefings on the corridor, the statement said.


Sweden Won't Help Citizens Held in ISIS Camps Return, Says FM

A camp housing families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakah province, Syria, April 19, 2023. © Baderkhan Ahmad, AP file photo
A camp housing families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakah province, Syria, April 19, 2023. © Baderkhan Ahmad, AP file photo
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Sweden Won't Help Citizens Held in ISIS Camps Return, Says FM

A camp housing families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakah province, Syria, April 19, 2023. © Baderkhan Ahmad, AP file photo
A camp housing families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakah province, Syria, April 19, 2023. © Baderkhan Ahmad, AP file photo

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said Wednesday that the country would not offer aid to return Swedes that had joined ISIS and were currently held in camps in northeastern Syria.

"The government will not act so that the Swedish citizens and persons with connections to Sweden who are in camps or detention centres in north-eastern Syria are brought to Sweden," Billstrom said in a statement to AFP.

"Sweden has no legal obligation to act for these individuals to be brought to Sweden. This applies to women, children and men," he continued.

The ISIS fall in 2019 in Syria created the problem of what to do with the families of foreign militants captured or killed there and in Iraq.

More than 43,000 Syrians, Iraqis, and foreigners from at least 45 countries are held in the squalid and overcrowded Al-Hol camp in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria.

Billstrom said that the remaining Swedes, had for several years been offered opportunities to return to Sweden, but had "refused again and again."

The minister added that Sweden was facing a deteriorating security situation and it could not rule out that returning adults could pose a security threat upon their return.

Broadcaster TV4 reported that five children with connections to Sweden remained in camps in Syria.

However, Billstrom stressed that "the responsibility for the children lies with their parents, who have chosen to travel to Syria to join IS, one of the world's most cruel terrorist organisations."


Sisi: Rafah Operation Threatens More than 1.5 Million Displaced People

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Reuters
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Reuters
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Sisi: Rafah Operation Threatens More than 1.5 Million Displaced People

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Reuters
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Reuters

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi renewed a warning against Israel’s plans to launch a ground military operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, saying that this would threaten the lives of more than 1.5 million displaced people who have taken shelter in the area.

Sisi was speaking on Wednesday during a joint press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who visited Cairo.

According to the Arab World Press, the Egyptian president stressed “the inevitability of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel’s end to its hostilities.”

He emphasized that the “practices of the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip constitute a formidable and flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”

“Egypt has repeatedly warned against Israel’s plans to make the Gaza Strip completely uninhabitable. It also cautions against the Israeli plan to launch a ground military operation against the Palestinian city of Rafah, which jeopardies the lives of more than one and a half million already displaced people, whose protection falls on Israel as stipulated in the rules of intentional law,” Sisi told the news conference.

He also warned against escalation in the West Bank, saying: “The events unfolding in Gaza, in full view of the world, are taking place in conjunction with policies that obstruct the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank, including unleashing settler violence, carrying out demolition and expulsion operations, conducting military incursions and confiscating land in West Bank cities, in addition to settlement expansions and cementing the occupation.”

The Egyptian president reiterated that the “suffering of the Palestinian people in all parts of the occupied Palestinian territories over the past decades will not end except through the recognition of the State of Palestine, enjoying full membership of the United Nations and the implementation of the two-state solution, in accordance with international references.”