Chairman of State Information Service (SIS), Diaa Rashwan, categorically denied the allegations and lies of the Israeli defense team before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), that Egypt is responsible for preventing the entry of humanitarian and relief aid into the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.
He explained that the inconsistency and lies of the Israeli allegations are evident in the following points:
= All Israeli officials, led by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, and the Minister of Energy, have confirmed dozens of times in public statements since the start of the aggression on Gaza, that they will not allow aid to enter Gaza Strip, especially fuel, because this is part of the war that their state is waging against the Strip.
= After all these statements, which did not consider this prevention and siege to be war crimes and genocide under international law, and when the occupying state found itself before the International Court of Justice accused with docum
ented evidence of these crimes, it resorted to throwing accusations against Egypt in an attempt to escape its likely condemnation by the court.
= It is known that Egypt’s sovereignty extends only to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, while the other side of it in Gaza is subject to the actual occupation authority, which was actually demonstrated in the mechanism for the entry of aid from the Egyptian side to ‘Karm Abou Salem’ crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip to Israeli territory, where it is inspected by the Israeli army, before being allowed to enter the Gaza Strip.
= Egypt has announced dozens of times in official statements, starting with the President of the Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and all concerned parties, that the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side is open without interruption, calling on the Israeli side not to prevent the flow of humanitarian aid to the Strip and to stop deliberately obstructing or delaying the entry of aid under the pretext of inspecting it.
= M
any of the world’s senior officials, led by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, visited the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, and no one of them was able to cross it into the Gaza Strip, due to the Israeli army preventing them from doing so, or because they feared for their lives due to the ongoing Israeli bombing of the Strip.
= The negotiations that took place regarding the humanitarian truces, which lasted for a week in the Gaza Strip, in which Egypt, Qatar, and the United States were parties, witnessed extreme intransigence on the part of the Israeli side in determining the amount of aid that the occupation forces would allow to enter the Strip, given that they control it militarily, which resulted in the end of the entry of quantities announced at that time.
= In light of the continued Israeli intention to obstruct the entry of aid at the ‘Karm Abou Salem’ crossing, Egypt has resorted to assigning Egyptian trucks with Egyptian drivers to enter, after inspection, directly into the territor
y of the Gaza Strip to distribute aid to its residents, instead of transferring it to Palestinian trucks to do this.
= What confirms the Israeli occupation army’s control over the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and its deliberate obstruction of it is what US President Joe Biden asked it to open ‘Karm Abou Salem’ crossing to facilitate its entry, which was announced by his National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on 13th December, as good news.
= If the Israeli authorities really want food, medical supplies, and fuel to enter the Gaza Strip, they have six (6) crossings from their territory with the Gaza Strip, which they must open immediately for trade and not for the entry of aid, especially since this trade with the Gaza Strip had reached more than $4.7 billion in 2022 for the benefit of the Israeli commercial and industrial sector.
Source: State Information Service Egypt