Egyptian sources said on Saturday that Egypt would not evacuate any foreign nationals from the Gaza Strip, which is under Israeli siege, unless there is an agreement that allows humanitarian aid to enter the area.
The Palestinian resistance groups have been launching attacks on Israel for the eighth consecutive day, killing 1,300 Israelis so far. On the other hand, the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have killed more than 1,900 Palestinians and wounded about 7,696 others.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said that 9 more Israeli prisoners of war were killed in the Israeli aggression on Gaza in the past 24 hours, including 4 foreigners.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian factions issued a statement on Saturday, affirming “the unity of the Palestinian people wherever they are and their right to resist the occupation”. They also urged the United Nations and the Red Cross to fulfill their legal and moral obligations towards Gaza.
The factions appealed to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to facilitate the transfer of the injured to Egyptian hospitals for treatment.
At the international level, Russia proposed a resolution to the UN Security Council, calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza and the delivery of aid to those in need. The resolution comes as the Israeli army gave an ultimatum to more than a million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate to the south of the Strip.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan met in Cairo on Saturday to discuss the situation in Palestine, especially after the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.
Shoukry said that Egypt and Turkey share a common vision of the importance of working to overcome the serious effects of the Israeli aggression on the Palestinians in Gaza. He added that the lack of a political solution and the continuation of the Israeli occupation increase the difficulty of the situation and the escalation of the conflict.
Fidan said that Turkey condemns Israel’s targeting of defenseless civilians in Gaza and hopes for a permanent solution in Palestine. He added that Israel’s practices regarding settlement and storming Al-Aqsa Mosque deepen the occupation. He also rejected any allegations that would justify Israel’s retaliation operations as legitimate. “The killing of civilians by any party must be prohibited,” he said.
The two ministers also discussed ways to provide humanitarian aid to the people of the Gaza Strip. Fidan said that Turkey appreciates Egypt’s role on the Palestinian issue due to its geographical proximity, and noted that Turkish aid planes have arrived in Al-Arish.
US President Joe Biden said that his administration is working with Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and the UN to resume the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza and respect the laws of war. He added that he seeks to mitigate the humanitarian consequences resulting from what he called Hamas’ attack.
UNICEF spokesperson said that more than 700 children have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israeli bombing. He called on the UN to protect the children of Gaza in accordance with international and humanitarian law, and described the situation in the strip as “catastrophic,” especially for children. He pointed out that many Gaza children and their families no longer have access to safe drinking water, and that humanitarian corridors are needed to deliver aid to the population.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that 10 paramedics were killed and 27 others were injured as a result of being directly targeted by Israel. The ministry added that Israel destroyed 23 ambulances and bombed 15 hospitals in Gaza, two of which stopped service. The ministry appealed to the international community to provide urgent protection for hospitals, ambulances, personnel, and the wounded.
The Regional Director of the World Health Organization, Ahmed Al-Mandhari, said that evacuating seriously ill patients from Gaza hospitals is tantamount to a death certificate. He strongly appealed to the international community to open the crossings with Gaza immediately to bring in urgent aid, and said that his organization is coordinating with Egypt to open Rafah crossing.
The UN rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, warned of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire. She said that what is happening in Gaza may be a repetition of the 1948 Nakba and the 1967 war on a larger scale.
