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Tag: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

  • Aid enters Gaza as Rafah border crossing opens

    Aid enters Gaza as Rafah border crossing opens

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    The Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing from the Gaza Strip opened on Saturday morning, letting trucks carrying humanitarian aid into the blockaded enclave, which has been under siege from the Israeli military for almost two weeks.

    The first of 200 trucks loaded with about 3,000 tons of aid, which have been blocked near the Rafah crossing for days, started moving toward Gaza early Saturday, the Associated Press reported.

    Earlier this week, U.S. President Joe Biden said Egypt had agreed to open the border and let 20 trucks enter the Palestinian enclave, while Israel said it would allow the delivery of food, water or medicine — but no fuel — from Egypt, provided they were limited to civilians in the southern part of Gaza and would not go to Hamas militants.

    European leaders were quick to welcome the border’s opening. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media that the crossing’s opening was “an important first step that will alleviate the suffering of innocent people.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was “good and important that the first humanitarian aid is now coming to the people in Gaza.”

    “They need water, food and medicine – we won’t leave them alone,” Scholz said.

    The Gaza Strip has been besieged by Israeli forces since October 9, when Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallan moved to restrict all access to food, water and energy in the enclave in retaliation for a surprise incursion from the Hamas militant group that killed at least 1,400 people in Israel.

    In response, Israel launched thousands of airstrikes on Gaza, killing more than 4,100 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and ordered all civilians to evacuate Gaza City to the southern part of the enclave as its troops get ready for a ground assault.

    The U.N. has called on Israel to reverse course, with a spokesperson saying an evacuation in Gaza “could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation.”

    The news of the border crossing’s opening comes as leaders of a dozen countries — including top officials from Germany, France, Turkey and Qatar — are set to meet in Cairo on Saturday at the invitation of Egypt’s leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in an attempt to prevent the conflict from escalating into a broader regional war.

    Meanwhile, Israel asked its citizens living in neighboring Jordan and Egypt to leave those countries “as soon as possible” and to “avoid staying in all the Middle East/Arab countries,” according to a joint statement from the prime minister’s office and the foreign ministry.

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    Nicolas Camut

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  • We won’t leave, Palestinian Authority leader tells Cairo summit

    We won’t leave, Palestinian Authority leader tells Cairo summit

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    Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday the Palestinian people would not be displaced, in an address at a peace summit in Cairo aimed at preventing the Israel-Gaza crisis from escalating into a regional war.

    “We warn of the danger of [the] displacement of our civilians from their houses or their displacement from the West Bank or from Jerusalem,” said Abbas, who leads the PA, which is in charge of semi-autonomous parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

    “We will never accept this forcible displacement and will stand tall on our land,” Abbas added.

    The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since the Hamas militant group’s surprise attack on Israel near the Gaza Strip on October 7, which killed more than 1,400 people. At least 83 people have been killed in clashes with Israeli settlers and police in the West Bank, Agence France-Presse reported Friday.

    In retaliation for Hamas’ attack, Israel declared a siege of Gaza, launching thousands of airstrikes on the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave which have killed more than 4,100 people. Israeli authorities have also ordered about 1.1 million civilians to evacuate Gaza City and move to the southern part of the enclave — which borders Egypt — amid reports it is preparing to launch a ground assault on Gaza.

    At the summit in Cairo on Saturday, Egypt’s leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said he opposed the displacement of Palestinians into his country. “Egypt says the solution to the Palestinian issue is not displacement, its only solution is justice and the Palestinians’ access to legitimate rights and living in an independent state,” el-Sisi said, according to Reuters.

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    Nicolas Camut

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  • Alarm as Israel again hits Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt

    Alarm as Israel again hits Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt

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    The third attack on the crossing’s Palestinian side in the last 24 hours consisted of ‘four missiles’, reports say.

    Gaza’s sole border crossing with Egypt, the only entry point not controlled by Israel, has been hit again by an Israeli air raid, reports say.

    The third attack on the Rafah crossing in 24 hours consisted of “four missiles” that targeted the Palestinian side of the crossing, local Egyptian group Sinai for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

    Witnesses had said the second attack hit the no-man’s land between the Egyptian and Palestinian gates, damaging the hall on the Palestinian side. The Israel military said it could “neither confirm or deny” any attack on the crossing “at this point”, the AFP news agency reported.

    NGO Sinai for Human Rights said Tuesday’s attacks prompted the closure of the crossing, but there was no immediate confirmation from either side.

    Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military revised a recommendation by one of its spokespeople that Palestinians fleeing its air raids in Gaza head to Egypt.

    Rafah is the sole possible crossing point into Sinai for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents. The rest of the 40km-long (25-mile-long) strip of land is surrounded by Israel and the sea. The passage of people and goods is strictly controlled under a blockade of Gaza enforced by Egypt and Israel.

    Meanwhile, Israel’s assault on Gaza has reportedly caused alarm in Egypt, which has urged Israel to provide safe passage for civilians from the besieged enclave rather than encouraging them to flee southwest towards Sinai, two Egyptian security sources told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday.

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Tuesday said the escalation in Gaza was “highly dangerous” and that Egypt was pushing with regional and international partners for a negotiated solution to the violence.

    Egypt would not allow the issue to be settled at the expense of others, el-Sisi said in comments reported by state news agency MENA, an apparent reference to the risk that Palestinians could be pushed into Sinai.

    Egypt, the first Arab country to normalise relations with Israel, has mediated between Israel and Palestinian factions during previous conflicts in Gaza and has pressed to prevent further escalation in the current fighting.

    Israel has been pounding Gaza with the fiercest attacks in the 75-year history of its conflict with the Palestinians, after Hamas launched a deadly and unprecedented incursion into Israel on Saturday.

    On Monday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “total blockade” of Gaza, cutting access to water, food, fuel and electricity. Such a siege of Gaza by the Israeli army, with the intent to starve a population, is a war crime under United Nations statutes.

    “What it seems to me is that the measures taken, including the bombing of the Rafah crossing, hints to an intention to really starve and kill the people who are innocent inside the Gaza Strip,” UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese told Al Jazeera, adding that Palestinians in Gaza are concerned that they could experience something akin to a “second Nakba” in the days ahead.

    Gaza’s health ministry on Tuesday said at least 830 people, including women and children, have been killed and more than 4,250 wounded since Saturday. At least 900 Israelis have also been killed since the unprecedented attack by Hamas.

    The siege of Gaza has also raised fears that Palestinian civilians could find themselves facing an enormous onslaught, or even an Israeli ground invasion, with nowhere to flee.

    Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry said Israeli bombardments on Monday and Tuesday hit an entry gate on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing. The crossing was also closed from the Egyptian side and Palestinians planning to travel to Gaza retreated to north Sinai’s main city of Al Arish, Egyptian sources said.

    The latest attack on Rafah follows a similar incident on Monday that partially disrupted operations at the border, though Egyptian security sources said access for registered travellers and humanitarian activity had been restored by Tuesday morning.

    On Monday, about 800 people left Gaza through the Rafah crossing and about 500 people entered, though the crossing was closed for the movement of goods, according to the United Nations humanitarian office.

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  • Egyptian opposition claims endorsements for president are being blocked

    Egyptian opposition claims endorsements for president are being blocked

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    Foul play prevents candidates from getting support needed to challenge President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, opposition says.

    Opposition parties in Egypt have said individuals seeking to support candidates to stand against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi have been obstructed from doing so.

    During a press conference on Wednesday, members of the Civil Democratic Movement (CDM) presented individuals who recounted being blocked in various ways from supporting candidates. Egypt’s National Election Authority has said it has investigated complaints and that such allegations are baseless.

    Under Egypt’s election system, candidates must secure the backing of at least 25,000 members of the public from 15 different governorates, or 20 members of parliament, and register their candidacy by October 14.

    Rania el-Sheik said she was trying to register to support former member of parliament Ahmed Altantawy when a scuffle she said was provoked by “thugs” broke out at the notary’s office. Altantawy is currently the most prominent individual planning to stand against el-Sisi.

    El-Sheik said a woman pulled her hair, while a male colleague was hit during the altercation. Elsewhere, she said others were turned away when they tried to register support.

    “In every place, public employees have pre-determined reasons: the system is down, the internet isn’t working, the power is cut, your ID card isn’t showing for us,” she said.

    Altantawy’s campaign has complained that people trying to register support for him have been blocked and that more than 80 of his supporters have been arrested.

    Magdy Hamdan, a Conservative Party official, said he was also blocked from submitting his endorsement at one notary’s office. When he tried to enter a second, a group of men brought in some rubbish collectors and beggars and began spraying them – and him – with water.

    When asked for comment by the Reuters news agency, Egypt’s state information service referred to statements by the election authority denying any violations.

    The election authority has said it has instructed notary offices to extend their hours to allow people to register.

    El-Sisi, who has overseen a far-reaching crackdown on dissent in Egypt, is widely expected to secure a third term in December, with rights groups expressing doubt over how free the election will be.

    The former military chief was first elected in the wake of the 2013 military coup that unseated Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi.

    He ran virtually unopposed in that election, winning more than 96 percent of the vote. He won a similar proportion in 2018, with critics saying repeated crackdowns have prevented any meaningful challenges.

    Constitutional amendments passed in a referendum in 2019 added two years to el-Sisi’s second term. They also allowed him to run for a third six-year term.

    The election is set to be held over three days, between December 10 and 12, with a run-off scheduled from January 8 to 10 if no candidate secures more than 50 percent of the vote.

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  • US to withhold $85m military aid to Egypt over political prisoners, rights

    US to withhold $85m military aid to Egypt over political prisoners, rights

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    US Senator Chris Murphy calls for additional $235m to be withheld over Egypt’s ‘egregious human rights record’.

    The United States plans to withhold $85m in military aid to Egypt owing to Cairo’s failure to uphold US conditions on freeing political prisoners and other human rights issues, a US senator said, with some of the withheld funds being redirected to Taiwan.

    Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, also urged US President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday to withhold $235m more in military aid for what he described as Egypt’s “egregious human rights record”.

    Two other sources familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency that a decision on the future of the $235m was expected soon.

    “The administration rightly decided to withhold that first tranche – $85m tied to the release of political prisoners – because there’s just no question there has not been enough progress,” Murphy said.

    “I would urge the administration to finish the job and withhold the full $320m … until Egypt’s human rights and democracy record improves,” he said.

    Of the $85m that is being withheld from Egypt, $55m will be redirected to Taiwan, and the remaining $30m to Lebanon, according to a US State Department letter to congressional committees laying out foreign military financing.

    The Egyptian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    On the floor of the US Senate on Tuesday, Murphy said that Egypt had jailed more political prisoners than it had released since 2022.

    “Egypt has released more than 1,600 political prisoners since early 2022. That’s good news,” Murphy said.

    “During that same time, they have jailed 5,000 more. So for every political prisoner that Egypt releases, three more are jailed. That’s one step forward, and three steps back,” he said.

    “That’s not the kind of ‘clear and consistent progress’ in releasing political prisoners that the law requires. The administration was right to withhold the $85m.”

    Human rights groups have long accused Egypt of widespread human rights abuses under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s government, including torture and enforced disappearances.

    Egyptian authorities have taken some steps since late 2021 that they say aim to address rights, including launching a human rights strategy and ending a state of emergency, but critics have dismissed the measures as largely cosmetic.

    Some high-profile detainees have been pardoned or released, but activists say new detentions have outnumbered releases and that thousands of political prisoners remain in jail, with restrictions on free speech as tight as ever.

    For decades, the US has given Egypt about $1.3bn a year in military aid to buy US weapons systems and services. More recently, the US Congress has made some aid to Egypt subject to human rights conditions.

    The announced withholding of military aid is significant, said Seth Binder of the Project on Middle East Democracy rights group.

    “But if the administration withholds less than it has the last two years it would in essence be saying to al-Sisi that it believes the Egyptian government has improved its rights record, which is just not true,” Binder said.

    Under US law, $85m in military aid is contingent on Egypt “making clear and consistent progress in releasing political prisoners, providing detainees with due process of law, and preventing the intimidation and harassment of American citizens”.

    These conditions cannot be waived by the executive branch.

    A further $235m is conditioned on Egypt meeting democracy and human rights requirements. These conditions, however, can be waived if the executive branch certifies that it is in the US national security interest to do so.

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  • Egypt and India bolster ties as Modi makes first trip to Cairo

    Egypt and India bolster ties as Modi makes first trip to Cairo

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    Egypt’s president and India’s PM discuss strengthening relations in areas including trade, food security and defence.

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo on a rare visit during which both sides pledged to deepen their strategic partnership.

    Modi and el-Sisi “signed a joint declaration to elevate relations to a strategic partnership”, which they had first announced in January when el-Sisi visited New Delhi, a spokesman for the Egyptian president said on Sunday.

    The two leaders agreed to boost investment by India – the world’s most-populous nation – in Egypt, which has the Arab world’s largest population and is now in the grips of an economic downturn.

    Both sides said the bilateral talks covered areas including trade and investment, renewable energy, information technology and pharmaceuticals.

    The two also discussed “further cooperation in G-20, highlighting the issues of food and energy insecurity, climate change and the need for Global South to have a concerted voice”, a statement from Modi’s office said, adding that the talks additionally addressed defence and security ties.

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (right) gives the Order of the Nile medal to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Cairo, June 25, 2023 [Egyptian Presidency Handout/AFP]

    El-Sisi welcomed Modi at the presidential palace in Cairo and bestowed upon him the country’s highest honour, the Order of the Nile, as the two leaders affirmed their “mutual commitment” to strengthen relations.

    This would include “increasing high-level visits”, facilitating direct flights between the capitals, and “developing Indian investments in Egypt”, according to the presidency in Cairo.

    Last January, the two leaders agreed to increase Indian investments in Egypt, which currently stand at more than $3.15bn, including through a potential “dedicated land area for Indian industries in the Suez Canal Economic Zone”.

    Those projects include a $12bn green hydrogen plant to be built by Indian firm ACME.

    India is already Egypt’s seventh-largest trading partner, according to data from Cairo’s central bank, with trade reaching $7bn last year.

    ‘Historic visit’

    Modi, who arrived in Cairo on Saturday, is the first Indian prime minister to pay a state visit to Egypt in more than two decades. His two-day stop came six months after el-Sisi was in New Delhi as an official guest during India’s Independence Day.

    Modi also invited the Egyptian leader to attend a summit of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing countries, which India will host in September.

    Earlier this year, both countries agreed to boost trade cooperation. India is one of the top five importers of Egyptian products, including crude oil and liquefied natural gas, salt, cotton, inorganic chemicals and oilseeds. Notable Indian exports to Egypt include cotton yarn, coffee, herbs, tobacco, lentils, vehicle parts, ships, boats and electrical machinery.

    Following his talks with el-Sisi, Modi visited a historic mosque, Cairo’s Al-Hakim, which was recently renovated with the help of the India-based Dawoodi Bohra community. He also paid tribute to Indian soldiers who died in World War I and are buried in the Heliopolis War Cemetery in Cairo.

    The two governments signed agreements in the fields of agriculture, archaeology, antiquities and competition law, said Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

    “My visit to Egypt was a historic one. It will add renewed vigor to India-Egypt relations and will benefit the people of our nations,” Modi wrote on Twitter before departing for New Delhi.

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