Pressure on Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is growing for Cairo to agree to accept refugees from Gaza as Israel continues its ground operation to rid the enclave of its barbaric ruling Hamas terrorist organization.
“We are prepared to sacrifice millions of lives to ensure that no one encroaches upon our territory,” said Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, according to a WSJ report.
El-Sisi has made it clear he wants nothing to do with it, and has categorically refused to take in Gaza refugees, which he insists would dissolve the “Palestinian cause.”
And of course, that is the cudgel used by Cairo, Amman, Riyadh and other Arab states for more than half a century to beat the State of Israel into submission on various diplomatic issues – and which is used to keep the pot of Arab discontent and internal threat simmering against Israel.
The Israeli Intelligence Ministry has drafted a wartime “concept paper” dated October 13, proposing the transfer of at least some – if not all – of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Under the proposal, the Gazans would be moved to the safety of tent cities in northern Sinai, where permanent cities and a humanitarian corridor would subsequently be established.
On the Israeli side of the border, a security zone would be created to block infiltration from the Sinai and Gaza.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly raised the issue last week during meetings with the various European leaders.
The conversations took place while the Europeans visited Jerusalem to express their solidarity with the Jewish State following the October 7 slaughter of more than 1,000 civilians and some 400 IDF soldiers, plus the abduction of at least 240 others, by hordes of Hamas terrorists and Gaza civilians who invaded southern Israel.
El-Sisi said following the start of the war launched by Hamas that Egypt would reject “any attempt to liquidate the Palestinian issue by military means or through the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land, which would come at the expense of the countries of the region.”
More than one million Gazans have been displaced since Hamas invaded Israel, as IDF military action grows in response to the obvious existential threat posed to Israel by the terror organization.
Israel has repeatedly warned, cajoled, urged and pleaded for Gazans to temporarily relocate to a safety zone in the south of the enclave. But Hamas is doing all that it can to prevent its citizens from taking the advice and fleeing the combat zone to safety, thus forcing its own citizens to remains as human shields while creating new photo ops of grieving Gazans to slake the thirst of international media for claims of Israeli brutality.
It’s an old and tragic story in Gaza but somehow mainstream media outlets fall for it every time.
At a summit called last week to discuss the situation, European Union leaders issued a statement saying the EU will “work closely with partners in the region to protect civilians, provide assistance and facilitate access to food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter, ensuring that such assistance is not abused by terrorist organizations.”
But there was no agreement on whether or not to increase pressure on Egypt to accept Gazans fleeing the fighting.
Most EU members said they would not pressure the Egyptian president.
