According to a statement by the Commission on its Facebook account, Rashwan announced that “the recent period has witnessed several statements by Israeli officials, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, containing false claims and allegations about the existence of smuggling operations of weapons, explosives, ammunition and their components, into the Gaza Strip from Egyptian territory.” in many ways”.
Rashwan explained that what confirms the “falsehood of these allegations” are the following matters:
• All countries of the world know well the extent of the efforts made by Egypt in the last 10 years, to achieve security and stability in Sinai and to enhance security on the border between Egyptian Rafah and the Gaza Strip, as Egypt itself had suffered greatly from these tunnels during the fierce confrontation with terrorist groups in Sinai. It was a means of smuggling fighters and weapons into Sinai to carry out terrorist operations.
• This situation prompted the Egyptian administration to take broader steps to eliminate these tunnels once and for all. A 5-kilometre-long buffer zone was created from the Egyptian city of Rafah to the border with Gaza, and more than 1,500 tunnels were destroyed. Egypt also strengthened the border wall with the Strip, which extends for 14 kilometres, by strengthening it with a concrete wall 6 meters above the ground and 6 meters underground, so that there are three barriers between Sinai and Palestinian Rafah, with which any smuggling operation is impossible, whether above or below ground.
• It is striking and surprising that Israel speaks in this undocumented way about allegations of arms smuggling from Egypt to Gaza, which is the country that has military control over the Gaza Strip and possesses the most modern and accurate means of reconnaissance and monitoring, and its forces, settlements and naval forces surround the small Gaza Strip from three sides, and are content with the accusations sent to Egypt without any further evidence. Evidence of it.
• Any claim that smuggling operations are carried out through trucks carrying aid and goods to the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing is empty and ridiculous, because any truck entering the Gaza Strip from this crossing must first pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing, which is run by the Israeli authorities. , which inspects all trucks entering the sector. Also, the recipients of this aid are the Palestinian Red Crescent and United Nations relief organizations such as UNRWA, which adds further evidence of the falsehood of the Israeli allegations.
• The true essence of Israel's claims is to justify its continuation of the process of collective punishment, killing, and starvation of more than 2 million Palestinians inside the Gaza Strip, which it has practiced for 17 years.
• Israel’s continued marketing of these lies is an attempt to create legitimacy for its attempt to occupy the Philadelphia Corridor or the Salah al-Din Corridor, in the Gaza Strip along the border with Egypt, in violation of the security agreements and protocols signed between it and Egypt. Here, it must be strictly emphasized that any Israeli move in this direction will lead to a serious and serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations. Egypt, in addition to being a country that respects its international obligations, is capable of defending its interests and sovereignty over its land and borders, and will not mortgage it in the hands of a group of leaders. Extremist Israelis who seek to drag the region into a state of conflict and instability.
• This Egyptian red line joins the previous one, which Egypt has repeatedly declared, which is the categorical rejection of forcibly or voluntarily displacing our Palestinian brothers to Sinai, which it will not allow Israel to cross.
• Egypt took the initiative and agreed with Israel in 2005 and 2021 to increase the size of the border guard forces and capabilities in this border region in order to secure the northeastern strategic direction, out of respect for the peace treaty with Israel, and so that the latter does not take any unilateral step on its part.
• The Israeli government must conduct serious investigations within its army, state agencies, and sectors of society, to search for those truly involved in smuggling weapons to the Gaza Strip, among them, for the purpose of profit. Many of the weapons currently inside the Strip are the result of smuggling from within Israel.
• Can Israeli officials, who are spreading lies against Egypt, explain the source of the large quantities of weapons, ammunition and explosives spread in various areas of the West Bank, according to their official statements, in light of their complete control over it, and that it does not have any kind of border with Egypt, and then they will only find the same Those involved, including their army, state agencies, and sectors of society, in smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip for the purpose of profit.
• The information shows that most of the heavy weapons smuggling operations into the Gaza Strip take place across the Mediterranean Sea, where its shores with Gaza are completely controlled by the Israeli naval and air forces, which indicates the same type of people involved in Israel, from its army, state agencies, and sectors of society, in weapons smuggling. To the Gaza Strip for the purpose of profit.
• It is worth noting what the Israeli statements ignore, which is what was revealed by the Israeli army’s statements during the current war, especially the video ones, about the seizure of many weapons, missile and explosives manufacturing workshops inside the tunnels in Gaza, which means that there is a high probability that it is a large part of Hamas’ armament. The Palestinian factions manufacture locally and not through smuggling.
• These allegations and lies are a continuation of the policy of escaping forward followed by the Israeli government due to its successive failures in achieving its declared goals for the war on Gaza. It is looking for someone responsible outside of it for these failures, as it also did the same thing recently by accusing Egypt in the International Court of Justice of being the one who prevents and impedes entry into the country. Humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, despite its full knowledge that Egypt did not close the Rafah crossing on its part, even for a single moment.
• The full support and solidarity of the Egyptian people with the Palestinian cause is certain and realistic without the slightest doubt, and is in line with Egypt’s official position on supporting the rights of the Palestinian people in their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of June 4, 1967. But this popular and official solidarity and support for the Palestinian cause, It does not conflict with securing our borders and preventing smuggling to and from it, and supporting the Palestinian cause has many political paths that bear fruit until the Palestinian people obtain their legitimate rights, which Egypt has done publicly since the beginning of the recent crisis, and before that all the time, in support of the brotherly Palestinian people.
• There is no doubt that such false allegations do not serve the positive Egyptian efforts made to resolve the crisis in Gaza, which has affected the entire region and made it ripe for expanding the circle of conflict, something that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has repeatedly warned against and sought to do.
• The conclusion is that these false allegations do not serve the peace treaty that Egypt respects, and it calls on the Israeli side to show its respect for it and stop making statements that would strain bilateral relations in light of the current inflammatory conditions.
• Egypt calls on everyone who talks about its failure to protect its borders to stop making these allegations, in light of the fact that it has a strong army capable of protecting its borders with all efficiency and discipline.
• Egypt will continue its natural positive role in order to solve all the region’s problems, and these false allegations will not succeed in dissuading Egypt from carrying out its internal, regional and international responsibilities.
#Egypt #responds #Israel39s #allegations #weapons #smuggling #border #Gaza