The Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs(ECFA) warns of the extremely serious consequences of malicious moves, Israeli orders to force the residents of Gaza to head south and threats of a ground attack on the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt, where about 85% of the population of the Gaza Strip are displaced to escape the massacres of the occupation forces against innocent civilians and besiege them in inhumane and degrading conditions to force them to leave their lands.
In this context, the Council stresses that Israel’s conduct is a flagrant violation of the decision of the International Court of Justice issued on 26 January, which obliges Israel to refrain from taking any steps that would incite the displacement of Palestinians from their lands or any acts of genocide and other activities prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.
The Council also reaffirms that the aforementioned order of the Court addresses not only the occupying Power, but also the entire international community, particularly the States directly involved in supporting Israel and providing it with arms and equipment, in particular the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, in order to impose the reality of displacement on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people, in implementation of an Israeli plan declared years ago that would spread regional and international chaos and instability and deprive the Palestinian people of their independent State in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy.
In this context, the Council warns of the seriousness of the decision of Western donor countries to punish all residents of the Gaza Strip by stopping their contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which serves about 6 million Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, and three other countries. This decision explicitly supports Israel in its vindictive and destructive behaviour against the population of the Gaza Strip by exacerbating the tragedy of hunger, thirst and epidemics in the Strip, in clear violation of the decision of the International Court of Justice, which obliged, among other measures, to take all steps within its power to prevent the extermination of the Palestinian people, including the need for humanitarian aid to enter the Strip, in the context of which UNRWA has a central mission.
The Council expresses its full support for Egypt’s tireless diplomatic efforts, in cooperation with other brotherly Arab countries, and at the international level, with the aim of reaching an immediate and complete ceasefire, ensuring the protection of civilians in accordance with the rules of international humanitarian law, and lifting all restrictions preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip.
