Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi criticized Israel for pursuing "a war of starvation and genocide" in Gaza, as he rejected claims that Cairo blocked life-saving aid from reaching the besieged Palestinian territory.
"The war in Gaza is no longer merely a war to achieve political goals or release hostages," el-Sissi told a news conference in Cairo along with his Vietnamese counterpart.
El-Sissi continued by saying: "This war has long since surpassed any logic or justification, and has become a war of starvation and genocide."
"There is systematic genocide to eradicate the Palestinian cause," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday Israel must "complete" the defeat of Hamas to free hostages held in Gaza, a day after Israeli media reported the army could occupy the entire territory, in blatant violation of international law.
Israel has heavily restricted aid to Gaza, which is slipping into a catastrophic famine.
It has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and displaced the entire population.
Following mounting international pressure on Israel, in late May, aid has only began trickling into Gaza, which borders Israel and Egypt.
In response to what el-Sissi said were "bankrupt" accusations of Egypt's complicity in the siege, the president reiterated that the Rafah border crossing with Gaza was "never closed."
The crossing at Rafah was a vital entry point of aid in the early months of the war, until Israeli troops took over its Palestinian side in May 2024, forcing it shut.
"The crossing was able to bring in aid as long as there were no Israeli troops stationed on the Palestinian side of the crossing," el-Sissi said, adding that there are 5,000 trucks loaded with aid waiting to enter Gaza.
He also defended what he said was Egypt's consistently "positive" role in seeking an end to the conflict.
Since the war began, Cairo has undertaken a delicate balancing act, retaining its position as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, along with the United States and Qatar.
Cairo has also repeatedly refused U.S. plans to displace Palestinians into Egypt, lobbying for a reconstruction plan for the territory that has fallen by the wayside as truce talks repeatedly folded.
"Egypt will always remain a gateway for aid, not a gateway for the displacement of the Palestinian people," el-Sissi said on Tuesday.
"We are prepared to allow aid in at any time, but we are not prepared to receive or displace Palestinians from their land."
Last week, el-Sissi urged U.S. President Donald Trump, who had touted the plan to displace Palestinians into Egypt, to intervene, saying he "is the one capable of ending the war, bringing in aid and ending this suffering."
For Palestinians, any attempts to force them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba," or catastrophe – the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.
"We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens," said displaced Gazan Rashad al-Naji.
Almost all of Gaza's people have been displaced, often multiple times, by Israel's genocidal Gaza war, triggered by the Hamas incursion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
