U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, third from left, meets with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, right, at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, Sunday Oct. 15, 2023. AP
Oct 15, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
President
Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Sunday that Israel has turned its response to
Hamas's attack into collective punishment against more than 2 million
Palestinians.
El-Sisi's remarks came during a meeting in Cairo with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, part of which was aired.
The
Egyptian President stressed to Blinken that the current crisis may have grave
repercussions for the Middle East region and that Egypt was exerting efforts to
de-escalate the situation.
“If we
delay resolving this crisis, more will fall in Palestine. Approximately 12,500
Palestinians have already fallen in five rounds of the conflict. On the other
hand, Israel lost 2,700 lives, 1,500 of which were lost in the recent Al-Aqsa
flood operation,” El-Sisi said.
President
El-Sisi added that 100,000 Palestinians and 12,000 Israelis were injured, and
2,500 Palestinian and 150 Israeli children have died.
El-Sisi
also told Blinken that there was no political solution to give Palestinians
hope in sight, stressing that Egypt was working to contain the situation and
prevent other parties from entering the conflict.
He stressed
to Blinken the importance of taking decisive action to reduce the current
tension and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Blinken
added that there are two paths to solving the Palestinian issue, the first of
which involves scrutiny, cooperation, and joint action, and the second, which
he called Hamas's path, leads to destruction and terror.
“Let us
work together to prevent the current crisis between Israel and the Palestinians
from escalating further,” he said.
Secretary
Blinken stressed that the United States focuses on ending Hamas’s terrorist
attacks against Israel and preventing the conflict from spreading.
The US
secretary and President El-Sisi agreed on the importance of addressing the
humanitarian situation in Gaza to ensure assistance reaches people who need it
and keep civilians out of harm's way.
Blinken
reiterated to El-Sisi the importance of facilitating the safe passage of
American citizens and family members from Gaza.
As he
departed Cairo to Amman, Blinken said he was confident "Rafah will be open"
and that the US, the UN, Egypt, Israel and others were developing a
"mechanism whereby assistance reaches those in need."
The meeting
was attended by the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and the head of the
Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Abbas Kamel.
Blinken
arrived in Cairo on Sunday after visiting six Arab countries to discuss the
current tensions between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
He will
return to Israel on Monday for a second visit.
For the
ninth consecutive day, the Israeli army carried out airstrikes and artillery
bombardments against the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians,
resulting in the loss of hundreds of Palestinian civilian lives and the
displacement of hundreds of thousands.
These
Israeli attacks are in response to a surprise cross-border assault initiated by
Hamas on Saturday, October 7th, during which they inflicted casualties on over
1,300 Israelis and took dozens as hostages.
Over the
past week, Egypt has advocated ceasing Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, protecting
civilian populations, and facilitating humanitarian aid access.
Egypt's
National Security Council, presided over by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi,
convened on Sunday to assess the escalating military situation in the Gaza
Strip and vehemently opposed the Israeli policy of displacing Palestinians.
Ahram
Online