Egypt has appealed for restraint from both Palestinians and Israel in the wake of a deadly assault by Hamas militants from Gaza, which encompassed air, land, and sea actions on Saturday. Israel retaliated with airstrikes.
Egypt, long known for its mediating role in conflicts involving both parties, has raised the alarm about the severe peril of continued escalation.
The Egyptian foreign ministry in a statement appealed to ‘both the Palestinian and Israeli sides to exercise the highest degrees of restraint’.
Top diplomat Sameh Shoukry made a series of calls Saturday in an attempt to rally “international actors” to “intervene immediately”.
In a message to Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, both ministers ‘expressed their deep concern about the progressive and dangerous deterioration of events’.
In a different statement, Safadi cautioned about the ‘volatility’ of the situation, ‘particularly in light of what cities and areas of the West Bank are witnessing of Israeli attacks and violations against the Palestinian people.’
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After months of heightened violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Hamas assault emerged, coinciding with a surge in casualties in the occupied West Bank, unprecedented in recent years.
Historically, Jordan and Egypt were the pioneering countries in the region to forge peace accords with Israel. Subsequently, a wave of United States-backed diplomatic normalisation efforts began in 2020, with the United Arab Emirates joining this endeavour.
Egypt’s Shoukry called UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Saturday, to discuss ‘the gravity of the current situation and the need to make every effort to prevent the security situation from getting out of control.’
The international community has united in denouncing the Hamas assault. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union’s top official, condemned it as ‘terrorism in its vilest form.’
In a call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Shoukry emphasised the significance of putting a stop to the escalation and urging all parties to show restraint.
Egypt also called on the international community to ‘urge Israel to stop the attacks and provocative actions against the Palestinian people and to adhere to the principles of international humanitarian law with regard to the responsibilities of an occupying state.’