Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Tuesday that Cairo categorically rejects “the policy of twisting the facts and shirking responsibility followed by the Israeli side,” in response to allegations by Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, who “held Egypt responsible for preventing a humanitarian crisis.” In the Gaza Strip."

Sameh Shukri stressed in a statement that “Israel is solely responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe that the Palestinians are currently facing in the Gaza Strip.”

Sameh Shukri considered that “Israeli control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, and the Israeli military operations in the vicinity of the crossing, and what they lead to in exposing the lives of relief workers and truck drivers to imminent dangers, are the main reason for the inability to bring aid through the crossing.” ".

The Egyptian Foreign Minister strongly denounced “the desperate attempts of the Israeli side to hold Egypt responsible for the unprecedented humanitarian crisis facing the Gaza Strip, which is a direct result of indiscriminate Israeli attacks against the Palestinians for more than seven months.”

Israel is the “occupying power”

Sameh Shukri called on Israel to “assume its legal responsibility as the occupying power, by allowing aid to enter through the land ports that are under its control.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz claimed, on Tuesday, that “preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now in Egypt’s hands,” and called for the “necessity of convincing it” to reopen the Rafah crossing.

Israel Katz said in a post on the “X” platform that he spoke with the British Foreign Minister, David Cameron, and the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, and stressed to them “the necessity of convincing Egypt to reopen the Rafah crossing to allow the continued delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” indicating that he would also speak. With his Italian counterpart, Antonio Taiani, on this issue.