Egypt Rejects The Transfer Of Palestinians To Sinai, This Is The President's Explanation Of Sisi

Palestinian Gaza in ruins of buildings as a result of Israeli attacks. (Wikimedia Commons/Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contact with APAimages)

JAKARTA - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday millions of Egyptian citizens would refuse the forced transfer of Palestinians to Sinai, saying such action was not a solution and would make the peninsula the base of attack on Israel.

The Gaza Strip is effectively under Israeli control and Palestinians can be transferred to the Israeli Negev Desert "until the militants are handled", President Sisi said in a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Cairo.

The border between Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip is the only crossing site from an Israel-uncontrolled Palestinian region.

Israel's unprecedented bombing and siege of Gaza to destroy Hamas militants has raised fears that its 2.3 million population will be forced to move south to Sinai.

"What is happening right now in Gaza is an attempt to force civilians to flee and migrate to Egypt, which should not be acceptable," said Sisi president, quoted by Reuters, October 19.

"Egypt rejects any attempt to resolve the Palestinian issue by military means or through the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their lands, which will harm countries in the region," he explained.

Meanwhile, referring to Egypt's position, Hamas official Osama Hamdan called for "to support this and support it at the level of the people and Arab officials because it represents real protection for the Palestinian people," at a news conference in Beirut.

Egypt is wary of insecurity near its border with Gaza in northeastern Sinai, where Egypt faces an insurgency of radical groups that increased a decade ago.

Every transfer of Palestinians to Sinai means "we are moving the idea of resistance, fighting, from the Gaza Strip to Sinai, and Sinai will be the basis for carrying out operations against Israel," said President Sisi.

Earlier, Jordan, which borders the Israeli-occupied West Bank and houses most Palestinians fleeing or being evicted from their homes after the formation of an Israeli state, has also warned Palestinians not to be forced to leave their lands.

Egypt itself is known to have tried to distribute humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing with Gaza. However, it was hampered by Israeli bombings on the Gaza side, preventing the crossing from being carried out.

President Sisi and a number of Arab state leaders have withdrawn from a meeting with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday in Jordan, in protest over an explosion at Gaza hospitals that killed hundreds of people.

Israel denies responsibility for the incident, accusing the rocket launch of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. On the other hand, the militants also denied responsibility for the explosion.