Hundreds of North Sinai residents today, Friday, staged a protest in front of the Egyptian Rafah crossing, coinciding with the press conference of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in support of the Palestinian people against the Israeli aggression on Gaza for the thirteenth consecutive day.
Guterres said in his speech today: “Beyond the crossing that separates Egypt from the Strip, there are two million people suffering enormously without water, food, medicine or fuel. On this side we have many trucks loaded with water, food and medicine. They are the difference between life and death for the people of Gaza. We need to move them to the other side as quickly as possible and at scale.” Because the relief operation is taking place in a war zone, the Secretary-General stressed the importance of his call for a humanitarian ceasefire, explaining that such a humanitarian ceasefire is not a precondition for delivering relief: “We do not want to punish the people of Gaza twice, first because of the war and second because of the lack of humanitarian aid. But it is clear that a humanitarian ceasefire would make things easier and safer for everyone.”
On the sidelines of his speech, those in solidarity in front of the Rafah crossing raised pictures of the flags of Egypt and Palestine and others showing the effects of the Israeli occupation’s aggression on the Strip, besieged by land, sea and air, chanting slogans against the occupation entity, including: “No, no to displacement”, “Down, down with Israel”, “We repeat it generation after generation, we are your enemies, Israel”, “Freedom for Palestine, Israel is a terrorist” and “Gaza, Gaza, symbol of pride”.
The sound of the chanting drowned out the voice of the UN Secretary-General, who was surprised by the large number of young people, women and children in solidarity, who had marched from all the cities and districts of North Sinai governorate, especially the areas of Bir al-Abd, Sheikh Zuweid, Arish and Central Sinai, forcing him to stop for about ten minutes before starting the press conference, accompanied by Major General Mohamed Shousha, Governor of North Sinai, who felt deeply embarrassed by the chants of those in solidarity.
Attempts to Surround the Secretary-General
After Guterres’s brief press conference ended, the participants marched to the gate of the crossing and formed a human wall to prevent the UN Secretary-General’s car from setting off from in front of the Rafah crossing, which stopped it from advancing amid the participants’ chants; this forced the Egyptian security forces to intervene immediately to try to free the UN official from the angry citizens. After a few minutes, they succeeded in helping him get through.
Those in solidarity continued to march until they crossed the front barriers of the crossing gate, demanding that it be opened, that the injured be evacuated to Egyptian hospitals and that aid be brought into Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip. The protests continued for more than half an hour amid a flood of anger, until the security forces were able to control and disperse them.
This comes as the trucks of the National Alliance to support our Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip have been stalled for the fifth consecutive day, waiting for the crossing to open and for them to be allowed into the Strip to unload their cargo. On the sidelines of the protests that took place across the republic today, security forces in the city of Arish refused to allow a protest demonstration in solidarity with Gaza to set off, thwarting the attempts of Sinai residents to break through the boundaries of Arish to reach the Rafah crossing, out of fear for the safety of the UN officials in front of the crossing.
