Cairo – Egypt, Jordan and France demanded, yesterday, Saturday, an end to the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, which has been ongoing since last October.
This came according to what Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in a press conference in Cairo with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi and Frenchman Stephane Ségourney, according to what was broadcast by the private Cairo News Channel.
Shukri said that the tripartite ministerial meeting between Egypt, Jordan and France “confirmed the necessity of a ceasefire in Gaza.”
He added: “We affirmed our refusal to displace Palestinians from their lands and discussed the danger of carrying out any military operation in the Palestinian city of Rafah (south of the Gaza Strip), which is crowded with civilians.”
On March 15, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved plans for a military operation in Rafah, without specifying a time frame for its start in the city crowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians.
In turn, Al-Safadi said: “The extremist Israeli government decided to use starvation as a weapon once morest the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
He explained, “What is required is that Israel open the borders and land crossings to bring aid into the Gaza Strip.”
He stressed that “the future will be worse than what we are experiencing now if the injustice does not end, the occupation does not end, and a just and comprehensive peace is achieved on the basis of a two-state solution that meets all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, most importantly their right to freedom, statehood, and dignity on their national soil, so that our region can live in security and peace.”
He added: “We face unacceptable Israeli intransigence and arrogance in rejecting the two-state solution and in refusing to find any political horizon.”
Israel restricts the access of humanitarian aid to Gaza, causing a scarcity of food, medicine and fuel supplies and creating a famine that has claimed the lives of children and the elderly in the Strip, which has been besieged by Israel for 17 years, and is inhabited by regarding 2.3 million Palestinians in catastrophic conditions.
In his speech, the French Foreign Minister said: “We agreed to work together to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”
He added: “We are once morest any military action in the Palestinian city of Rafah, noting that France has also presented proposals to resolve the crisis between Israel and Lebanon.”
In light of the war in Gaza, the Israeli-Lebanese border has witnessed, since October 8, 2023, an exchange of fire between the Israeli army on the one hand, and “Hezbollah” and Palestinian factions on the other hand, which led to deaths and injuries on both sides of the border.
Before the press conference, an Egyptian-Jordanian-French meeting began in Cairo to discuss paths for joint action to achieve a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
The meeting comes as indirect negotiations continue in Doha between Israel and the faction movement, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, with the aim of reaching a prisoner exchange deal and a second truce between the two parties, following the first lasted a week until the beginning of last December, and resulted in an exchange of prisoners and the introduction of limited aid to sector.
Last Monday, the UN Security Council issued a resolution for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during the month of Ramadan, “in a step towards a permanent and sustainable ceasefire,” without Tel Aviv responding.
Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of victims, most of them children and women, a humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure and property, which led to Israel being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing “genocide.”
Anatolia
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2024-03-31 13:09:30
