'6 Israeli Crossings With Gaza Must Be Opened,' Says Egyptian Foreign Minister

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Saturday stressed the need to open Israeli crossings with the besieged Gaza Strip.

"We demand that the six Israeli crossings with Gaza be opened to humanitarian aid," said Shoukry in a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Istanbul.

The Egyptian official stressed that the "failure to do so violates international law."

Shoukry said that "since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, Israeli hurdles persisted."

He noted that Egypt has "engaged international allies in setting up Gaza center for aid distribution."

The Egyptian minister also said: "We must prevent the displacement of Palestinians and work to establish an independent Palestinian state."

Shoukry also stressed that the Iran-Israel tension "diverted the international community's attention from the tragic situation in Gaza."

Flouting the International Court of Justice's provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 34,049 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 76,901 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe.

Writing by Ikram Kouachi -