Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi expressed his country's rejection of separating the Gaza Strip from the occupied West Bank on Thursday, and denounced Israel's ongoing violations in Syria.
This came during his speech at a special session of the 11th summit of the Developing Eight Economic Cooperation Organization, regarding developments in Palestine and Lebanon, hosted by Cairo.
The G8 developing Islamic countries include Egypt, Turkey, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
Al-Sisi stressed Cairo's rejection of "any ideas that aim to liquidate the Palestinian cause, whether through displacement or by separating Gaza from the West Bank and Jerusalem."
He considered that "what happened since October 7 (October 2023/the beginning of the Israeli genocide) has crossed all international and humanitarian borders and rules."
He added: "The number of Palestinian deaths exceeded 45,000 martyrs, most of whom were women and children. The Israeli violations extended to include international employees who were killed while performing their work, and more than 70 percent of the infrastructure in Gaza was destroyed."
The Egyptian President stressed the "centrality of the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in providing the necessary support to the Palestinian people," noting that "the right of return of the Palestinian people will not lapse with the passage of time."
He stressed "the need to reach an immediate and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, and to lift Israeli obstacles to stopping the war."
On Wednesday, Channel 12 reported that the details of the Gaza ceasefire agreement could be finalized within days, despite the existence of points of contention that have not yet been resolved, while Egyptian media reported on Tuesday that “there are intensive Egyptian-Qatari efforts with all parties to reach an agreement.”
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, resulting in more than 152,000 Palestinian deaths and injuries, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
** Lebanon and Syria
Regarding Lebanon, Sisi stressed "the importance of concerted international efforts to mobilize the necessary funding for reconstruction in Lebanon," stressing the need to "enable the Lebanese army to extend its control over the entire country."
He pointed out that Cairo has been keen "since the (Israeli) aggression to provide all possible means of support to the brotherly Lebanese people."
Since November 27, a fragile ceasefire has prevailed between Israel and Hezbollah, and Tel Aviv has committed 249 violations of it until Wednesday, resulting in 30 deaths and 37 injuries, according to statistics from Anadolu Agency.
The Israeli aggression resulted in 4,061 deaths and 16,662 injuries, including a large number of children and women, in addition to the displacement of about 1,400,000 people. Most of the victims and displaced persons were recorded after the escalation of the aggression on September 23, according to official Lebanese data.
In this context, the Egyptian President said in his speech, "The current events in the region have become the best witness to the double standards the world is experiencing, the emptying of human principles and values of their meaning, and the marginalization of the rules of international law."
Regarding the Syrian issue, Sisi stressed that "Syria is witnessing a blatant violation of its sovereignty with Israel recently seizing more Syrian territory, launching attacks on Syrian territory, and unilaterally announcing the cancellation of the 1974 disengagement agreement."
He expressed "Egypt's condemnation in the strongest terms of these practices, affirming its full support for Syria's unity, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity."
He pointed out that "Cairo supports every effort that contributes to the success of the comprehensive political process in Syria with the participation of the Syrian people with all its components and segments without external dictates and interference."
On December 8, Syrian factions took control of the capital Damascus, and other cities before them, with the withdrawal of Bashar al-Assad regime forces from public institutions and streets, thus ending a 61-year era of Baath Party rule and 53 years of Assad family rule.
As a result, Israel claimed the collapse of the separation of forces agreement with Syria, and occupied the demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan. It also exploited these developments and launched hundreds of air strikes, destroying warplanes, various missiles, and air defense systems in numerous military sites throughout Syria.
شارك برأيك
Sisi rejects separating Gaza from the West Bank and condemns Israel's violations in Syria