President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Arish in North Sinai, a city on the Egypt-Gaza border, to visit vital humanitarian sites crucial for Gaza’s relief efforts on Tuesday, 8 April.
The tour comes amid Israel’s ongoing tightening blockade over Gaza and cutting off humanitarian aid, while UN agencies warn of the severe consequences resulting from Israel’s war and blockade.
El-Sisi and Macron visited a hospital in the port city, located 50 kilometers west of the Gaza Strip, where they met with medical professionals and Palestinian patients evacuated from Gaza, both sick and wounded.
During his visit, Macron described the situation as “intolerable” and called for the “immediate resumption of humanitarian aid” to Gaza. He also “strongly condemned” an Israeli attack on paramedics and aid workers the previous month.
The purpose of the trip was to increase pressure on Israel to “reopen crossing points for the delivery of humanitarian goods into Gaza,” according to Macron’s office.
Since Monday, Macron’s visit to Egypt has been focused on stressing the need for another ceasefire in Gaza, following the collapse of the previous truce in mid-March.
Attending a summit in Cairo, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II issued a joint statement urging the international community to push for an immediate halt to Israel’s military actions in Gaza, calling for the restoration of the ceasefire and the resumption of humanitarian aid to prevent the crisis from worsening.
The visit also marked the elevation of Egypt’s relations with France to the level of a strategic partnership, signing several agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs)
Since March, Israel has escalated its offensive on Gaza, displacing 100,000 Palestinians in just two days last week, according to UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. There are increasing concerns that Israel’s goal is to permanently depopulate these areas while gaining control over some of Gaza’s remaining agricultural land and vital water infrastructure.
Since the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023, more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel and the majority of the 2.3 million residents in Gaza have been displaced.
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