The head of the Pentagon asks the Israeli Defense Minister to negotiate with Egypt to reopen the Rafah crossing

Follow the latest news on the war in Gaza live

Cairo demands the Palestinian presence on the other side of the crossing, which connects southern Gaza with Egyptian territory, for its reopening

May 23. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Secretary of the United States Department of Defense, Lloyd Austin, asked his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, this Wednesday to negotiate with Egypt to reopen the Rafah crossing, in the south of the Gaza Strip and where the Palestinian side It was taken at the beginning of the month by the Israeli Army.

This request has come as an attempt to resume the supply of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave, which has been drastically reduced since the start of Israeli ground operations in the area.

Likewise, Austin has called for applying an “effective mechanism” to appease military operations in the Strip to serve this same objective, according to a Pentagon statement.

A few hours earlier, the Egyptian Government had expressed its refusal to recognize “the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation” on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, and has demanded the presence of “Palestinian elements on its side of the crossing so that Egypt can continue operating on your part.”

Likewise, he has threatened to withdraw as a mediator between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the framework of the negotiations for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, after the American television network published that the Egyptian intelligence had slightly changed the terms of the pact without the knowledge of the rest of the mediators.

Cairo has expressed its “astonishment at the attempts by some parties to insult the enormous efforts that (Egypt) has made and continues to make in recent months to achieve a ceasefire in the Strip, avoid daily civilian casualties and systematic destruction “, and has blamed “interested parties” who “spread lies about the Egyptian position” for undermining efforts in the negotiations.