An international conference to enhance the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip was launched in Cairo on Monday, while Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ati called for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphia axis, stressing the importance of not letting the Gaza Strip down humanitarianly.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement on Monday that the conference, in which 103 delegations of countries, organizations, international bodies and financial institutions participate, comes to confront the humanitarian disaster suffered by the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
The conference also aims – according to the statement – to secure clear commitments to provide aid to Gaza, strengthen international support to ensure the sustainability of the response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, mobilize efforts to provide urgent humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and plan for early recovery within the Strip.
The most prominent participants in the conference include Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ati, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Al-Safadi, and Amina Muhammad, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Don’t let Gaza down
In the opening session of the conference, Abdel Ati called for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphia axis, stressing the importance of not letting the Gaza Strip down humanitarianly.
Abdel Ati said, “There must be an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian side of the Rafah and Philadelphia crossings (which Israel occupied last May),” and stressed the importance of the flow of immediate relief support to Gaza.
He stressed that “the war in Gaza must be stopped and the infrastructure must be reconstructed and rehabilitated,” and pointed out that Gaza is facing a tragedy that is exacerbated and perpetuated by the inability of the international system to take deterrent stances against the violations of the Israeli occupation.
He pointed out that Israel uses starvation as a weapon and displacement as punishment for the Palestinians, accusing Tel Aviv of preventing humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza in unjustified ways. He stressed that Egypt is ready to bring relief trucks in large numbers to Gaza as long as safe conditions are available for that.
For his part, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to prevent the spread of escalation in the region. He pointed to “committing massacres against children, women, and the elderly, destroying infrastructure, and pursuing a policy of oppression, siege, forced displacement, and confiscation of Palestinian lands by Israel.”
Ibn Farhan stressed that this Israeli behavior “perpetuates suffering and fuels extremism in the region, works to expand the conflict, and undermines the chances of sustainable coexistence.”
Ibn Farhan said, “The Kingdom spared no effort or delay in providing aid to the Palestinian people,” and condemned “exposing humanitarian work in the Palestinian territories to collapse by Israel attacking UN workers.”
For his part, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi called on the international community to exert all possible forms of pressure on Tel Aviv to allow aid to enter the Gaza Strip. Al-Safadi said, “People in the Gaza Strip are hungry and we must act now.”
Al-Safadi called on the international community to exert all possible forms of pressure on Israel to bring aid into the Gaza Strip.
In turn, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa called for working on plans for early recovery and reconstruction in Gaza, and for working to develop a plan to reunite Palestinian national institutions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Mustafa stressed the need to implement UN resolutions to stop the aggression and bring aid into Gaza, expressing his hope that the conference will witness an aspiration for pledges that address urgent humanitarian relief demands in support of the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their future.
Emergency response
For his part, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, made an appeal by saying at the conference, “We need an emergency humanitarian response in Gaza.”
He stressed that “UNRWA operates in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law, and works to protect the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”
Lazzarini called for an end to the Israeli ban on the work of the UN agency.
On Saturday, the World Food Program revealed that the hunger crisis is worsening throughout the Gaza Strip, and the prices of basic foodstuffs have risen by more than 1,000% compared to pre-war levels.
The Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from a policy of starvation due to a scarcity of foodstuffs, due to Israel’s obstruction of the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip, according to confirmations from numerous UN and international institutions.
The international community is calling on Israel to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza to prevent famine, but to no avail.
The famine has spread throughout most of the Gaza Strip areas as a result of the Israeli siege, especially in the north following the continued extermination and starvation, while all areas of the Gaza Strip are experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, coinciding with the advent of winter for the second year in a row, with about two million displaced Palestinians, most of whom are sleeping in tents.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 149,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters. In the world.