Sisi presents plan for ceasefire in Gaza, slams displacement of Palestinians

An international peace summit kicked off in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Saturday, attended by heads of state and senior officials from over 20 countries around the world in a bid to end the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who have been targeted by a deadly and indiscriminate bombing campaign by Israel for over two weeks.

In his opening speech, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called upon world leaders at the Cairo Summit for Peace to address the possible de-escalation of the armed conflict between the Hamas faction, which rules the strip, and the Israeli government, while allowing Gazans access to relief efforts and aid supplies.

"[We] condemn the terrorization of civilians and voice our astonishment at the world's response to this humanitarian crisis in Gaza," the Egyptian president said in his opening speech.

"Where are the values of human civilisation established over long millennia and decades? Where is equality in cherishing human souls without discrimination…or double standards?" Sisi asked.

The Egyptian president reiterated his country’s support for the Palestinian cause, proposing a roadmap to end the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza and revive the path for peace by putting into force “the two-state solution” in a bid to end the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Sisi also emphasised the need to limit any further escalation that is likely to jeopardise regional stability and world peace. He said that a full, unfettered and sustainable flow of humanitarian aid and relief efforts to the people of Gaza, followed by “negotiations intended to achieve calm and a ceasefire” was the course to follow.

"Egypt condemns… targeting, killing as well as intimidating all peaceful civilians. [We are shocked] at…the world’s idle response as a catastrophic humanitarian crisis unfolds," he aid.

In recent years, Cairo has been instrumental in mediating peace deals between the Palestinians and the Israelis as well as among rival Palestinian factions.

Egypt and Israel have technically been at peace since 1978, sharing diplomatic and economic relations.

However, the majority of Egyptians continue to harbour animosity to Israel due to its ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories and its killing and oppression of Palestinians.  Egypt and Israel have fought four wars in the post.

Major squares in Egyptian provinces witnessed over the past 48 hours pro-Palestine protests that denounced the ongoing offensive against Gaza as well as the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land since 1948 in general.

Meanwhile, Sisi reiterated that his government and people have been firmly rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land under any circumstances.

The Egyptian government has frequently expressed worry against a possible mass exodus of Palestinians forced to choose between death under Israeli bombing or displacement from their land.

Since the 1950s there have been worries in Egypt that the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip could be displaced to North Sinai by Israel and these have been strengthened by a recent Israeli order to Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate the north of the enclave.

Recently, Sisi said during a joint press conference with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Cairo that Gazans could be moved to the Israeli Negev desert instead of Sinai "until Israel is capable of defeating Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Afterwards, Palestinians could return to their homeland."