By Qais Abu Samra and Betul Yilmaz
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – A senior Palestinian official on Monday denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s accusation for Egypt of preventing Palestinians from leaving the Gaza Strip.
“Netanyahu's allegations against the Arab Republic of Egypt are misleading and distort the truth that the problem lies in the Israeli occupation and its siege of the Palestinian people, not in Egypt,” Hussein Al-Sheikh, Secretary-General of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said on his X account.
He said Egypt has worked for many years to help and support the Palestinians politically, materially and morally.
“(Egypt) has taken an honorable stance in preventing the displacement of the Palestinian people from their homeland and has supported their steadfastness and perseverance on their land. Greetings to Egypt, its leadership and people,” he added.
Netanyahu alleged in an interview with Fox News aired Saturday night that Egypt was preventing Palestinians to voluntarily leave Gaza.
“Some would bribe the gatekeepers (at the Rafah crossing),” he claimed. “But they were locked (in) because their neighbor, Egypt, wouldn’t open the door."
Cairo vehemently dismissed Netanyahu’s claims and rejected any calls for Palestinian displacement from their land to neighboring countries.
Netanyahu’s claims came as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that Washington would “take over” Gaza and resettle Palestinians elsewhere under an extraordinary redevelopment plan that he claimed could turn the enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
His proposal was met with wide condemnations from the Palestinians, Arab countries, and many other nations across the world, including Canada, France, Germany, and the UK.
A Gaza ceasefire deal has been in place since Jan. 19, pausing Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed nearly 48,200 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.