Israeli attack on Al-Mawasi 'seriously complicates' ceasefire efforts: Egypt

Egyptian Foreign Ministry calls on Israel to ‘stop disregarding the lives of innocent civilian citizens’

CAIRO:

Egypt on Saturday condemned Israel's bombing of the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, which is densely populated with displaced people, affirming that it adds “serious complications” to the current Gaza cease-fire negotiations.

Following the Israeli army attack, which killed 71 Palestinians and injured 289 others, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry called on Israel to “stop disregarding the lives of innocent civilian citizens and to adhere to the required humanitarian standards in compliance with international law and humanitarian law.”

It condemned the Israeli attack on the displaced Palestinians’ tents in Al-Mawasi, emphasising that “such crimes ... cannot be accepted under any pretext.”

Egypt reiterated that “these ongoing violations against Palestinian citizens add serious complications to current efforts to achieve calm and cease-fire, and increase the humanitarian suffering of Palestinians amid international silence and inability.”

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Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 88,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.