Egypt has agreed to open the Rafah crossing at the border with Gaza and plans to help coordinate humanitarian aid to the more than 2 million Palestinians affected by the fighting in the wake of Hamas attacks on Israelis.
“Egypt has put in place a lot of material support for people in Gaza. And Rafah will be reopened,” said United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, following his meeting Sunday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
“We’re putting in place with the United Nations, with Egypt, with Israel, with others, a mechanism by which to get the assistance in and to get it to people who need it,” Blinken said. The U.S. diplomat, who also visited Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, said regional partners want to prevent the conflict from spreading and ensure aid to Palestinian civilians in need of food, water, shelter, and health care.
“I made clear that it cannot be, must not be business as usual with Hamas going forward. And at the same time, as I said, we’re determined to do everything we can to address the needs of people in Gaza,” Blinken said. “Civilians should not have to suffer for Hamas’s atrocities. We are now very actively engaged with countries in the region, with the United Nations, with Israel, to make sure, to the best of our ability, that people can get out of harm’s way.”
African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat also visited Cairo on Sunday, meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit about the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
Image: Government of Egypt
The post Blinken: Egypt to open Rafah border crossing first appeared on Africa Times.
+ There are no comments
Add yours