Egypt is moving to avert a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip into its Sinai Peninsula, as Israeli bombardment halted crossings at the main exit point from the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday, Gaza officials and Egyptian security sources said.
  • Rafah crossing closed following Israeli bombardments
  • Crossing is main gateway to outside world for Gazans
  • Egypt concerned Israeli assault will drive displacement
  • Israel revised recommendation for people to head south

Egypt is moving to avert a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip into its Sinai Peninsula, as Israeli bombardment halted crossings at the main exit point from the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday, Gaza officials and Egyptian security sources said.

Israel’s assault on Gaza has caused alarm in Egypt, which has urged Israel to provide safe passage for civilians from the enclave rather than encouraging them to flee southwest towards Sinai, two Egyptian security sources said.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Tuesday that the escalation in Gaza was “highly dangerous” and that Egypt was pursuing a negotiated solution to the violence with regional and international partners.

Egypt would not allow the issue to be settled at the expense of others, Sisi said in comments reported by state news agency MENA, an apparent reference to the risk that Palestinians could be pushed into Sinai.

The Rafah border crossing remained shut on Wednesday morning, after Egyptian military planes conducted flights nearby overnight, security sources said. The military has also taken up new positions close to the border, running patrols to monitor the area, said Ahmed Salem of the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights.

  • Chariotwheel
    9•1 year ago

    NO ONE wants the Palestinians, and that should tell you a lot about who are really the villains in this conflict.

    Uhm. I just like to point out that for hundreds of years barely anybody in Europe wanted Jewish people, with some brief windows during the French revolution, some Prussian kings and Poland. That doesn’t mean that any action against the Jewish people of Europe was justified, just because almost nobody liked them.

    You got a very… early 20ths century logic there.

    • @flossdailyEnglish
      -6•1 year ago

      You’re talking about ancient prejudices against an ethnic group.

      I’m talking about judgements arrived at about this specific population after these EXACT PEOPLE caused massive, violent, civil unrest in countries populated by other Muslims/Arabs.