The Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs (ECFA) condemns the military operation launched by the Israeli Occupation Forces in the City of Rafah, South of the Gaza Strip, at dawn on Tuesday May 7th, 2024, in a strange and reprehensible insistence by the Israeli War Council to continue killing, despite Hamas’ approval of the ceasefire agreement proposal submitted by the mediators, in which tremendous efforts to reach a sustainable truce inside Gaza were humiliated.
While expressing its deep dismay at this senseless and persistent Israeli behavior, the Council stresses that this option is consistent with the systematic and continuous bloody campaign launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip since the 7th of October 2023, which aims to storm all areas of the Gaza Strip and displace its inhabitants towards the unknown, including Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge to escape the reprehensible Israeli crimes.
The Council refers to reports and statements of the United Nations Humanitarian Agencies affirming that this irresponsible Israeli action will lead to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, especially in light of the lack of safe havens throughout the Gaza Strip, following the massive destruction caused by the Israeli war machine. The Council stresses the need to exert maximum efforts to intervene immediately to stop the genocide and war crimes committed by the occupying forces against defenseless civilians in the occupied territories, including within the framework of the United Nations General Assembly, after the shameful inability of the Security Council to exercise its duties to maintain international peace and security and to address pressing international issues, in particular the Palestinian question.
The Council condemns, in the strongest terms, the United States’ role in this aggression and Washington’s full support for the occupying forces, particularly through the veto power in the UN Security Council in a manner that gives Israel immunity and superiority over all the rules and norms of International Law. What is happening in Gaza today affirms that the United States has never been at any time an honest broker or neutral party, but an active player in this war against the innocent civilians, in a serious imbalance of power between Israel and the United States on one side and Palestine on the other side.
In this Context, the Council fully supports steps to reform the crumbling International Order and the UN Security Council to achieve a more just and equitable multipolar world that truly preserves the values of peace, security, and justice and respects the rules of sovereign equality of States without exception.
