Israeli military operations in Gaza threaten regional stability, Egypt warns

By Ibrahim al-Khazen

CAIRO (AA) – Egypt warned Monday that Israel’s ongoing military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip poses a “serious threat” to regional stability.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry received a phone call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during which they discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The two diplomats discussed the “humanitarian and security dimensions” of Israel’s military operations in Rafah and Tel Aviv’s control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, the statement said.

Shoukry warned that the Israeli operations in Gaza, particularly Rafah city, pose a serious threat to regional stability, the statement said.

According to the statement, the chief diplomats underlined the importance of opening the border crossings between Israel and Gaza and “ensuring the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid to meet the urgent needs of Gaza’s population.”

Israel closed the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings last week, preventing aid entry and exacerbating the dire conditions in the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which killed 1,200 people.

More than 35,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and over 78,700 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul