Egyptian authorities are “very, very angry” because of Western pressure on the issue of accommodation of refugees from the Gaza Strip and threatened to send them to the EU countries. This is reported by the British newspaper Financial Times.
“Do you want us to accept a million people? Well, I will send them to Europe. Since you care so much about human rights, you take them,” Financial Times quotes the words of an unnamed high-ranking Egyptian official in a conversation with a European colleague.
According to the newspaper, Cairo fears that Western countries will insist on offering to accommodate people in the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt intends to provide aid to the victims in the escalation zone, but “will resist any attempts to accept more refugees,” the newspaper said.
On Monday, 16 October, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that forced displacement would not be a solution to the Palestinian crisis, the newspaper recalls.
At the same time, the authorities temporarily opened the Rafah crossing on the border with Gaza, but only third-country nationals were allowed to pass through. Egypt refused to do this for several days, seeking Israel to lift the blockade of humanitarian supplies, but still agreed after negotiations with the United States.
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