Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi said on Wednesday that his country was playing a “very positive role” trying to de-escalate and find a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Egypt has taken an active role in negotiating access to aid for people in Gaza through the Rafah crossing, which it shares with Gaza, as well as in negotiations for hostage releases, while advocating for a ceasefire in the conflict.
The Associated Press has the story:
Egypt’s El-Sissi: Cairo playing positive role in de-escalating Gaza crisis
Newslooks- CAIRO (AP)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi said on Wednesday that his country was playing a “very positive role” trying to de-escalate and find a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Egypt has taken an active role in negotiating access to aid for people in Gaza through the Rafah crossing, which it shares with Gaza, as well as in negotiations for hostage releases, while advocating for a ceasefire in the conflict.
Inspecting scores of Egyptian warplanes, tanks, and other military hardware at an exercise on the western edge of the Sinai Peninsula, about 135 miles (215 km) from Egypt’s border with the Gaza strip, he said that though Egypt had considerable military capabilities it would only ever use them wisely and in self-defense.
“It’s very important when you have this kind of power that you use it reasonably, wisely, and maturely and you don’t overstep and have illusions about your own strength,” he said, alluding to internal calls for Egypt to involve itself in the conflict.
“You have this capability to defend yourself … never let anger or fervor cause you to overstep,” he said.
El-Sissi, who is scheduled to meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Cairo on Wednesday, said the military exercise had been intended for events to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war against Israel that started on October 6, but had been postponed due to the conflict.
At a Cairo peace summit on Saturday, El-Sissi warned against any Israeli move to displace Gazans into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, saying “the dissolution of the Palestinian cause without a just solution will not happen, and in any case will never happen at Egypt’s expense.”
El-Sissi cautioned his forces against any direct involvement in the Israel-Hamas war.
“My message to the army and people is not to make your military power make you rush into wrong decisions,” El-Sissi said in front of dozens of tanks in the port city of Suez.
The president went on, saying that the Egyptian army has a history dealing with crises “rationally and with patience.”
Egypt has criticized Israel over its bombardment of Gaza, accusing it of trying to push hundreds of thousand of Palestinians onto its territory and nullify Palestinians demand for statehood. Egypt maintains functional relations with both Israel and Hamas, and has brokered peace deals between the warring sides during previous flare-ups.
