President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday that Egyptians in their millions would reject the forced displacement of Palestinians into Sinai, adding that any such move would turn the Egyptian peninsula into a base for attacks against Israel.
The Gaza Strip is effectively under Israeli control and Palestinians could instead be moved to Israelโs Negev desert โtill the militants are dealt withโ, Sisi told a joint press conference in Cairo with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The border between Egyptโs Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip is the site of the only crossing from the Palestinian territory that is not controlled by Israel.
Israelโs unprecedented bombardment and siege of Gaza to destroy Hamas militants who control the strip has raised fears that its 2.3 million residents could be forced southwards into Sinai.
โWhat is happening now in Gaza is an attempt to force civilian residents to take refugee and migrate to Egypt, which should not be accepted,โ said Sisi.
โEgypt rejects any attempt to resolve the Palestinian issue by military means or through the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land, which would come at the expense of the countries of the region,โ he said.
Sisi said the Egyptian people would โgo out and protest in their millionsโฆ if called upon to do soโ against any displacement of Gazaโs residents to Sinai.
Referring to the Egyptian position, Hamas official Osama Hamdan called โfor rallying around this position and supporting it on the popular and Arab official level because this represents real protection for our Palestinian people,โ at a Beirut press conference.
Egypt is wary of insecurity near its border with Gaza in northeastern Sinai, where it faced an Islamist insurgency that escalated a decade ago.
Any transfer of Palestinians to Sinai would mean โthat we move the idea of resistance, of combat, from the Gaza Strip to Sinai, and so Sinai would become the base for launching operations against Israelโ, Sisi said.
Jordan, which shares a border with the Israeli-occupied West Bank and absorbed most of the Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes after the creation of the state of Israel, has also warned against Palestinians being forced off their land.
Egypt has been trying to channel humanitarian relief through its Rafah crossing with Gaza, but aid has been piling up on the Egyptian side because Egypt says Israeli bombardments on the Gazan side have made the crossing inoperable.
Two Egyptian security sources said that while Israel had been obstinate, late on Wednesday it had named locations in Gaza that aid could be sent to but had not specified a time when the border crossing could begin operating safely.
The United States has said it is working with Israel on a plan for sending in aid, and White House spokesperson John Kirby said they were getting close to a framework for the plan. It is likely to involve the evacuation of some foreign passport holders from Gaza, but Egyptian officials say that has to be accompanied by the delivery of aid.
Two Egyptian security sources said that talks had faltered, blaming Israeli obstinacy on allowing the crossing to operate safely. Israel says it is bombing Gaza to eliminate Hamas militants who massacred Israeli civilians earlier this month.
Sisiโs comments came after a blast hit a hospital in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening, killing large numbers of Palestinians and unleashing new fury across the Middle East just as U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel.
Volunteers waiting on the Egyptian side of Rafah performed a funeral prayer for those killed in the blast.
Sisi and other Arab leaders pulled out of a planned meeting with Biden in protest over the blast and what they see as Washingtonโs pro-Israel bias.
Israel denied responsibility for the blast and said it was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.
Hundreds of Egyptians protested in downtown Cairo, as well as on the Cairo University campus, Reuters reporters said, and state TV showed protests elsewhere in the country.
With police trucks standing nearby, protesters chanted โOpen the crossing!โ and โThe people want the downfall of Israel!โ
โThis protest is organised by the Journalists Syndicate โฆ to express our condemnation of the massacre, war crime and genocide carried out by the Zionist forces and the IDF,โ said syndicate official Mahmoud Kamel in downtown Cairo.
