Rafah crossing not passage for displacing Palestinians

7/9/2025 5:51

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Saturday reaffirmed that the Rafah crossing, the only channel linking Egypt with the Gaza Strip, will not be a passage for displacing the Palestinians from their land.

In a joint press conference with Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Abdelatty explained that "the Rafah crossing is only for the delivery of aid, not displacement."

"It's absurd to say that the Palestinian people want to leave their land, but rather they are driven by a policy of starvation," he added.

Lazzarini agreed that the starvation in Gaza is man-made, adding that "it is difficult to supply Gaza residents with aid from the Rafah crossing due to the Israeli impeding practices."

The UN official added that Egypt has been exerting efforts to stop the deterioration of conditions in the strip, lamenting that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees lacks the necessary tools to meet humanitarian needs to Gaza.

Regarding the ceasefire deal in Gaza, Abdelatty said that stopping the war in Gaza is the only way to secure the release of hostages.

The statement came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in a recent interview that "half of the population wants to leave Gaza," while insisting that "this is not a mass expulsion."

Netanyahu's remarks have drawn regional condemnation. Jordanian Government spokesperson Mohammad Momani on Saturday said that Jordan will never accept the forced displacement of Palestinians.

Writing on social media platform X, Momani stressed that international law prohibits the forcible transfer of populations from "occupied territories," describing it as both a "war crime" and a "crime" against humanity.