Egypt holds Israeli occupation solely responsible for disaster in Gaza

CAIRO, May 14 (KUNA) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Tuesday the Israeli occupation authorities were solely responsible for the humanitarian disaster being undergone by the Palestinians in Gaza Strip.
"The Israeli occupation authorities are making desperate attempts to lay the blame for the unprecedented catastrophe in Gaza on others," the minister said in response to recent calls by an Israeli minister for Egypt to reopen Rafah border crossing and allow relief aid into Gaza.
"The disaster in Gaza is a direct result of indiscriminate military attacks by the Israeli occupation forces on the Palestinian civilians over the past seven months which left more than 35,000 civilian deaths, mostly women and children," Shoukry said in a statement read by spokesman of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmad Abu-Zaid.
The minister reiterated Egypt's categorical rejection of Israel's policy of maneuvering aiming to disavow responsibility for the consequences of its attacks on civilian targets.
The Israeli occupation forces have recently took hold of the Palestinian side of Rafah crossing and continues military operations in the border area which put in peril the lives of aid workers and drivers of trucks.
"This is the main cause of inability to deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian civilians in Gaza," the minister explained.
The Israeli occupation authorities must shoulder their legal responsibility, as occupying power, for allowing the entry of relief aid into Gaza Strip via the land borders under their control, he added. (end) aff.gb