Sameh Shoukry

foreign minister, Egypt

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/10/15/blinken-saudi-egypt-israel-gaza/

500- to 600 Palestinian Americans in Gaza rushing to the border, but none have been able to cross into Egypt amid contradictory remarks between U.S. and Egyptian officials about why the border won’t reopen.

Rafah border crossing — the only egress that Israel does not control — has also remained closed to critical supplies of food, water, fuel and medicine that aid groups and friendly nations, with Egypt’s coordination, are trying to send into Gaza.

Blinken responded to Sisi saying “I come as a human being” who is appalled by Hamas atrocities.

While Sisi denounced Hamas’s assault on Israelis, he blamed Israel for driving Palestinians to desperation given the lack of progress toward a two-state solution.

“There’s no substitute for Egypt because of its border with Gaza,” Khaled Elgindy

continued provision of $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid to Egypt annually, despite the Sisi government’s abysmal human rights record.

Cairo, supremely concerned with internal security, has also played a role in enforcing Israel’s 16-year blockade of Gaza — particularly after Sisi took power in a military coup in 2013.

The Israel-Gaza war in 2014 lasted for weeks in part because Cairo was “dragging its feet” to punish Hamas

Egyptian officials have been clear that relocating Palestinians to Egypt en masse is not an option, warning that doing so could spell the end of the Palestinian dream of statehood.

http://linkedin.com/in/sameh-shoukry-673aa7216

Sameh Shoukry is foreign minister of Egypt and deputy to president Abdel Fatah El Sisi.