Egyptian Foreign Minister: Over 2 Million Palestinians in Gaza Live in the Open
(AWP) - Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are “living in the open,” and called for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“We vehemently reject the measures taken to pressure the Palestinian people in Gaza to displace,” Shoukry said during a press conference on Tuesday, with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock at the foreign ministry headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, east of Cairo.
He added, “A ceasefire has become inevitable to address this crisis whether in terms of its political framework, the issue of hostages, the humanitarian conditions of the Palestinian people, security for all, achieving stability, establishing the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and ending the occupation. These are all the key components that will bring us out of the continuous circles of violence the region is experiencing.”
The Egyptian foreign minister noted the pressing need for the delivery of aid to “more than two million people living in the open without shelter, food or health care,” adding that “nearly 70% of the buildings in Gaza have been destroyed.”
He continued, “October 7 was not the beginning of this conflict. We should not be overlooking years and decades of assaults on Palestinian rights, the targeting of Palestinians, endorsed killing, displacement from lands, demolition of homes, expansion of settlements, an internationally recognised state of occupation and demands for the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights.”
Shoukry criticized the international community’s silence on events in Gaza, stressing that “the international community should have shouldered its responsibility for the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians.”
He said, “We have not heard any condemnations by the international community about the killing of journalists in Gaza and systematic and deliberate suppression of the truth about what is going on in it.”
The German foreign minister warned that the conflict in the region could escalate into a larger one, and said that the aid currently reaching the Gaza Strip is insufficient.
Baerbock said she would be heading to al-Arish and Rafah today to assess “the cooperation between Egypt and the international institutions regarding humanitarian aid,” and stressed the need for cooperation with Egypt “so that the aid reaches the people who need it in Gaza.”
Baerbock confirmed an agreement with Egypt that “peace can never be reached except through the two-state solution.”