Gaza: joint call from Emmanuel Macron and Abdel Fattah al-Sissi against an offensive in Rafah

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: Ludovic MARIN / AFP 2:15 p.m., February 18, 2024

Emmanuel Macron and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi expressed “their firm opposition” to an Israeli offensive in Rafah as well as “to any forced displacement of populations” towards Egypt, “which would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law” , according to a press release on Sunday from the Élysée.

The two leaders, who spoke by telephone on Saturday, "expressed their firm opposition to an Israeli offensive in Rafah, which would lead to a humanitarian catastrophe on a new scale, as well as to any forced displacement of populations towards Egyptian territory , which would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and pose an additional risk of regional escalation.”

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is determined to carry out a ground offensive in Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians are crowded, despite calls from part of the international community. Emmanuel Macron and Abdel Fattah al-Sissi shared “their extreme concern about the deterioration of the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the obstacles to the delivery of aid”.

“Urgency to achieve a ceasefire”

They stressed "the urgency of drastically increasing the flow of aid to the population of Gaza." “It is imperative to preserve the Rafah crossing point, to open the port of Ashdod, a direct land route from Jordan, as well as all crossing points,” they plead. The two heads of state also insisted "on the urgency of achieving a ceasefire and the release of the hostages", calling on the United Nations Security Council to "play its role in this regard".

They also marked “the need to work towards an end to the crisis and the decisive and irreversible relaunch of the political process, with a view to the effective implementation of the two-State solution”.

On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an attack in southern Israel during which more than 1,160 people were killed, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. . Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas, which it classifies, like the United States and the European Union, as “terrorist”. The offensive of its army in Gaza has cost the lives of 28,985 people, the vast majority civilians, according to a new report Sunday from the Hamas Ministry of Health.