During a meeting held in Cairo on Saturday, the foreign ministers of Egypt and Turkey voiced strong opposition to Israel’s plan to take full control of Gaza City and eventually the entire Gaza Strip.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Badr Abdelatty, denounced the plan as “completely unacceptable” and a violation of international law.
His Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, used equally strong language, stressing that Israel’s true objective is to remove Palestinians from Gaza entirely:
“We must speak about this openly. Israel wants to ‘de-Palestinize’ Gaza, turning it into a place where Palestinians no longer live and where it can settle its own permanent settlers.”
The remarks came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday that his country intends to take full control of the Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City.
According to reports from the Israeli government, the Security Cabinet approved the move on Friday, though it has not clarified whether the plan will extend to occupying the whole territory.
During the Cairo meeting, Turkey also stressed the need for unity among all Muslim nations in addressing the nearly two-year-long Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Egypt—together with Qatar and the United States—has been actively engaged for months in efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas, but so far, no lasting agreement has been achieved.
