U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called on the Egyptian government to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure the entry of aid into Gaza.
“We do strongly urge our Egyptian partners to do everything that they can on their end of things to make sure that assistance is flowing,” the top diplomat said at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“We need to find a way to make sure that the assistance that would go through Rafah can get through safely,” Blinken also told lawmakers.
On Tuesday, a senior Biden administration official offered a rare rebuke of Cairo’s refusal to work with Jerusalem to coordinate aid shipments to Gaza.
“What should be going into Kerem Shalom [a crossing point between Israel and Gaza] is the U.N. assistance which is now in Egypt. Egypt is holding that back until the Rafah Crossing situation settles out,” the official told reporters during a briefing.
“We do not believe that aid should be held back for any reason whatsoever. Kerem Shalom is open. The Israelis have it open. And that aid should be going through Kerem Shalom,” the official added.
Egypt has rejected an Israeli proposal to work together to reopen Gaza’s Rafah Crossing with Sinai and manage its operation jointly, two security sources in Cairo told the Reuters press agency last week.
The Egyptian government demands the crossing be managed only by Palestinians, sources said, adding that Jerusalem had offered a mechanism for how to manage the crossing after its forces withdraw.
Officials from the Israel Security Agency presented the plan during a visit to Cairo on May 15, amid rising tension between the two countries following Israel’s military advance last week into Rafah, believed to be the final Hamas terrorist stronghold in the enclave.
The Israel Defense Forces took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah Crossing on the morning of May 7.
A day earlier, Israel’s War Cabinet decided unanimously to “continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to promote the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war.”
Jerusalem wants to allow humanitarian aid through Rafah but is unable to do so without Egyptian cooperation. Cairo’s refusal to coordinate with Israel is preventing aid trucks from passing through the border, even as Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi blames the Jewish state.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority has reportedly also rebuffed an Israeli offer to help manage the border crossing, Hebrew media reported last week, citing American government officials.
“The key to preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now in the hands of our Egyptian friends,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
The Rafah operation, which Israel estimates will last around two months, is being carried out in phases as opposed to a full-scale invasion. The phased nature of the operation allows for it to be paused should a hostage release deal be reached between Israel and Hamas.
Egypt has reportedly threatened to suspend its 45-year-old peace treaty with Israel if the IDF further expands its offensive against Hamas, and has lodged formal protests with the U.S. and European governments.
