The bloc desires to cooperate with Egypt to stop a refugee exodus amid the escalation in Gaza, Charles Michel has stated
The violent battle between Palestinian militant teams and Israel spells severe hazard for the EU because it may set off a brand new refugee inflow, European Council President Charles Michel has warned.
Talking at a press convention on Tuesday, Michel identified that the instance of Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza and has to take care of “hundreds of thousands of refugees,” reveals that “the scenario can have… very severe penalties for this nation and it will possibly have direct penalties for us in Europe.”
With this in thoughts, the official continued, it’s essential that the EU engages with Egypt to ascertain a broad partnership on migration to facilitate entry to Gaza. On the identical time, he famous that Cairo has signaled that it doesn’t need to open borders with the Palestinian enclave, including that the border crossing space has been the goal of frequent assaults.
“Egypt additionally sees it as a menace to sustaining the potential of a two-state answer,” he stated, referring to an idea that envisages the coexistence of the State of Palestine and the State of Israel.
Michel additionally harassed that the current escalation within the area has despatched shockwaves the world over, fomenting polarization amongst completely different teams. In opposition to this backdrop, he known as on EU leaders to cooperate in a bid to defuse tensions by combating in opposition to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia alike.
Fears of a brand new refugee exodus from the Center East to the EU had been fueled when the Palestinian armed group Hamas launched a shock assault on Israel on October 7, leading to lots of of useless and injured.
Because the Israeli army pushed again, it ordered 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to instantly depart their houses. This ultimatum was criticized by UN Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres, who identified that travelling by means of a warzone “to a spot with no meals, water, or lodging… is extraordinarily harmful – and in some circumstances, merely not potential.”
Amid the hostilities, Israel has additionally introduced a “full siege” of Gaza, reducing of its entry to meals, water and electrical energy. In the meantime, Egypt continues to be protecting the Rafah crossing, its solely land hall with Gaza, closed, with the Instances of Israel reporting on Monday that the nation is nonetheless bracing for an enormous inflow of refugees.
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