Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday that forced displacement of Palestinians cannot be implemented, adding that Israel can let Palestinians move to the Negev desert in Israel “till militants are dealt with.”
Sisi warned Wednesday of the dangers of “forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt”, saying it would set a precedent for “the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan.”
Sisi, who has rejected calls to allow large numbers of refugees from Gaza into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, said the goal of “the Palestinian state” would be “eradicated.”
“If it came to it, I could call on the Egyptian people to come out and express their rejection of this proposal, and you would see millions of Egyptians” in the street, he told reporters.
Sisi said that if Israel needed to displace Palestinians “it has the desert of Negev to move Palestinians until Israel completes its declared mission against Palestinian armed factions. But transferring (them) to Egypt is dangerous, as Sinai will turn into a base for operations against Israel.”
Sisi also said that Egypt “did not close” the only border crossing with Gaza not under Israel’s control, blaming Israeli bombardments for it not operating.
“Developments on the ground and the repeated bombings by Israel of the Palestinian side of the crossing have prevented operations,” Sisi told reporters.
Aid convoys have been waiting for six days on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, which has been bombed four times since Israel launched its response to a shock cross-border attack launched by Hamas from Gaza on October 7 which killed at least 1,400 people, most of them civilians. ARAB NEWS
