Chairman of the State Information Service Diaa Rashwan, completely denied the allegations and lies of the Israeli defense team before the International Court of Justice, 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 refuted in the following points:
“All Israeli officials, especially 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 the Gaza Strip, particularly fuel because this is a part of the war that their state is waging against the Strip.”
“After all these statements, Israel did not consider this prevention and siege to be war crimes and genocide under international law. When the occupying state found itself before the International Court of Justice accused with documented evidence of these crimes, it resorted to throwing accusations against Egypt in an attempt to escape its likely condemnation by the court.”
“It is clear 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. This was demonstrated in the mechanism for the entry of aid from the Egyptian side to the Karm Abu Salem crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip to Israeli territory, where it is inspected by the Israeli army, before allowing it to enter the territory of 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. Many senior officials in the world, led by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, visited the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, where none of them were able to cross it into the Gaza Strip, because the Israeli army prevented 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 over the humanitarian truce, which lasted for a week in the Gaza Strip, in which Egypt, Qatar, and the United States were parties, witnessed extreme intransigence from the Israeli side in determining the amount of aid that the occupation forces would allow to enter the Strip, as they control the Strip militarily, which ultimately resulted in entering of the quantities announced at the time.”
– In light of the continued Israeli intention to obstruct the entry of aid through the Karm Abu Salem crossing, Egypt resorted to allowing Egyptian trucks with Egyptian drivers to enter, after inspection, directly into the territory of the Gaza Strip to distribute aid to its residents instead of transferring it to Palestinian trucks to do so.
– The issue that confirms the Israeli occupation army’s control over the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and its deliberate obstruction of it is that US President Joe Biden called for the opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing to facilitate its entry, which was announced by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on December 13, as good news.
– If the Israeli authorities want food, medical supplies, and fuel to enter the Gaza Strip, Israel has six (6) crossings from its 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 in 2022 amounted to more than USD 4.7 billion for the benefit of the Israeli commercial and industrial sector, SIS reports.
