The Rafah crossing, in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, is the only land border of the Gaza Strip with a country other than Israel. The Egyptian head of state declares that opening the corridor to civilians “simply means that the idea of resistance and struggle in Gaza will move to Sinai,” expanding the battlefield into the Egyptian region.
Abdel Fattah El-Sisi claims that what is happening in Gaza “is not just a military action against Hamas, but rather an attempt to pressure the civilian population to immigrate to Egypt,” according to Reuters. The president fears a mass exodus of “Palestinians from Gaza” to Egypt [que] This means that the same displacement will happen to Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan.”
The Head of State explained, in statements reported by the French Agency, that “the Rafah crossing was not closed,” and that humanitarian aid stopped only because of “Israeli bombing.” At this moment, hundreds of trucks carrying vital humanitarian aid to the Palestinians are stuck in the Egyptian Sinai desert, unable to enter the enclave.
According to the United Nations, it is estimated that about one million Palestinian civilians have been displaced. “In reality, civilians have nowhere to go – nowhere to escape bombs and missiles, nowhere to find water or food or escape the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe,” said Joyce Msuya, UN Under-Secretary-General.
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