President Sisi Urges Trump to Help End Gaza Conflict
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday made an impassioned call for US President Donald Trump to intervene to put an end to Israel's war in Gaza after more than 21 months. In a televised address, Sisi said Trump "is the one capable of stopping the war, bringing in aid and ending this suffering" after more than 21 months, with Gazans grappling with dire humanitarian conditions. "Therefore, I am making a special appeal to His Excellency President Trump: please make every effort to stop the war and bring in aid," the Egyptian leader said. "The time has come to end the war," said Sisi, whose government has been involved in mediation efforts aimed at securing an elusive truce as well as in sending aid into Gaza, which border Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Trump said on Monday that a ceasefire between America's close ally Israel and Hamas was still "possible", after talks in Doha with US, Qatari and Egyptian mediation had ended with no breakthrough. Gaza's population of more than two million people face a deepening humanitarian crisis, with UN agencies and aid groups warning of worsening starvation and malnutrition.
As international pressure grew, Israel has said in recent days it would allow more aid into the devastated territory, which was under a complete blockade for two months ending in late May. Sisi said Egypt has a large number of aid trucks waiting at the Rafah border crossing, but "for aid to enter, coordination is necessary". "The other party that is inside the Rafah crossing on the Palestinian side must open for this aid to enter," he added, referring to Israel's military. Formerly a vital conduit for life-saving aid, the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been effectively closed since Israeli forces seized its Palestinian side more than a year ago. As a result, Gaza-bound aid from Egypt must be rerouted through an Israeli crossing to the east, where Israel inspects the deliveries before they are cleared to enter. Faced with growing frustration at home and across the Arab world, Sisi said Egypt's "ethics, values and national responsibility" would not allow it to obstruct the delivery of sorely needed aid to Palestinians across the border.
Last week, protests broke out outside the Egyptian embassies in Lebanon and Libya, where demonstrators demanded an immediate end to what they called Egypt's complicity in blockading Gaza. Crowds in both Arab capitals chanted slogans against the closure of the Rafah border crossing and called on the Egyptian government to allow uninterrupted aid into the Palestinian territory.
