Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
In a direct and urgent appeal to the international community, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Migration, Dr. Badr Abdel Aaty, has called for immediate global pressure on Israel to open all five of its border crossings with the Gaza Strip. His comments come amid mounting concern over what he described as a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in the war-torn enclave.
Speaking on Saturday evening during a televised interview with journalist Youssef Al-Husseiny on the “New Evening” program aired on Al-Mehwar TV, Abdel Aaty emphasized that Egypt is doing everything within its power to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. However, he acknowledged that the number of aid trucks currently allowed into the territory remains “scandalously low.”
“Our efforts are ongoing and relentless, but the aid getting through is simply not enough,” Abdel Aaty said. “The volume of trucks entering Gaza is minimal and does not meet even the most basic needs of the population.”
The minister revealed that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi had personally tasked him during a recent visit to Washington with focusing Egypt’s diplomatic efforts on addressing the humanitarian emergency in Gaza. This initiative has already begun to bear fruit, Abdel Aaty noted, pointing to the U.S. administration’s decision to dispatch its Middle East envoy, Steve Weitzman, to the region to assess the crisis firsthand.
Egypt has been working across multiple channels to increase the flow of assistance. Abdel Aaty explained that Cairo is making use of every available access point, including the Kerem Shalom (Karam Abu Salem) crossing, and has also partnered with European nations and Jordan in conducting aerial aid drops. However, he made clear that such airlift operations, while helpful, are “limited in scope and unsustainable as a long-term solution.”
“The real and effective solution lies in opening land crossings,” he stressed, underlining that sustained and large-scale humanitarian relief cannot be achieved through air drops alone.
The Egyptian foreign minister also issued a pointed message to the international community, urging it to fulfill its moral and legal responsibilities by pressuring Israel to open all five of its Gaza crossings. “Israel, as the occupying power, bears full legal, ethical, and political responsibility for allowing the entry of humanitarian aid,” he said.
Egypt’s call for international intervention comes as humanitarian organizations warn of deteriorating conditions in Gaza, where shortages of food, clean water, medicine, and fuel have reached critical levels. While Egypt has long served as a vital conduit for humanitarian support into Gaza, officials argue that their efforts alone are insufficient without wider international cooperation and an end to restrictions imposed by Israel.
With no end in sight to the crisis, Egypt’s top diplomat made it clear that time is running out. “This is not just a regional issue, it is a global humanitarian emergency that demands decisive, collective action,” Abdel Aaty concluded.
