By Manal Abdel Fattah
Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with Espen Barth Eide, Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Norway, on the sidelines of the 60th session of the Munich Security Conference.
In a statement to Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesman and director of the Department of Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he pointed out that the two ministers dealt in detail the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, the moves aimed at the full implementation of Security Council resolution 2720 and the activation of the relevant UN mechanism to facilitate the process of bringing humanitarian aid into the Strip.
Minister Shoukry was keen to brief his Norwegian counterpart on the results of the political and diplomatic moves carried out by Egypt with important international parties, to remove the obstacles placed by the Israeli side in the process of entering aid, stressing the importance of providing full political support by the international community to the United Nations Senior Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs to make its tasks entrusted to it under the Security Council resolution to accelerate the sending of aid shipments to the Gaza Strip.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman added that the two ministers exchanged visions and assessments on the seriousness of the current situation in the Gaza Strip in light of Israeli movements to conduct a military operation in the southern city of Rafah, which represents a safe last resort for more than one and a half million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. In this regard, Minister Sameh Shoukry stressed the need for all international actors to pressure the Israeli side to stop these movements, which will only result in an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.
The two sides also affirmed their country’s complete rejection of all attempts at forced displacement by Israel to push the people of the Gaza Strip out of it and liquidate the Palestinian cause.
Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid added that the discussions reflected the convergence of the vision on the pivotal role played by UNRWA, which is irreplaceable to it, in providing support to the Palestinians. The two ministers stressed the importance of continuing to provide adequate financial support to the Agency to carry out the tasks entrusted to it, and urged the countries that suspended their funding to the Agency to reverse this decision, which will increase the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, in light of UNRWA playing the primary role in the process of distributing aid and dealing with various aspects of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
They also stressed the importance of the international community continuing to provide the necessary support to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of the sector in an adequate and sustainable manner.
For his part, the Foreign Minister of Norway praised Egypt’s pivotal role in the process of delivering the necessary humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, its tireless efforts to contain the crisis and prevent the expansion of the conflict in the region, and the balance and ability reflected in Egyptian policies and positions to deal wisely with this crisis in its various dimensions.
He also affirmed his country’s support for this pivotal role played by Egypt, and Norway’s readiness to engage more in any Egyptian efforts that would restore security and stability in the region.
The official spokesman concluded his statements, pointing to the agreement of the two ministers to continue consultation and coordination during the coming period to support efforts to contain the crisis and reduce its humanitarian repercussions on the Palestinian people.
