Visiting Cairo, EU president says Gaza ‘facing famine,’ calls for ‘rapid’ ceasefire
President Sissi says Egypt and European leaders stand against IDF operation in Rafah, after meeting heads of several countries at signing of $8.1 billion funding package
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday that Gaza was facing famine and there had to be a rapid ceasefire agreement in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Gaza is facing famine and we cannot accept this,” von der Leyen told reporters, speaking in Cairo after signing a strategic partnership agreement with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
“It is critical to achieve an agreement on a ceasefire rapidly now that frees the hostages and allows more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza,” she added.
Sissi said that Egypt and European leaders have agreed to reject an Israeli military operation in Rafah.
An operation “would double the humanitarian catastrophe that civilians in the Gaza Strip are suffering from, in addition to the effects of that operation on liquidating the Palestinian cause, which Egypt outright rejects,” Sissi said.
War erupted when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern communities on October 7, slaughtering close to 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 253 captives to Gaza, where over half remain.
Israel has said Rafah, where four Hamas battalions are deployed, remains Hamas’s last major stronghold in the Strip after the IDF operated in the north and center of the Palestinian enclave. It has said an offensive there is necessary to achieve the war’s goals and is not a question of “if” but “when.”
The comments by two leaders followed the announcement of a 7.4 billion euro ($8.1 billion) funding package from the EU for Egypt, as well as an upgrade in relations with the North African nation, part of a push — criticized by rights groups — to stem migrant flows to Europe.
Von der Leyen and Sissi were joined in Cairo by the leaders of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, and Italy for the signing ceremony.
The strategic partnership deal includes billions in credit over coming years and stepping up gas and other energy flows to help Europe “move further away from Russian gas,” said a senior European Commission official.
Von der Leyen said that “today we elevate the relationship between the EU and Egypt to a Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership, and we agree on a package ranging from trade and investment to low carbon energy, managing migration, and education, culture and youth.”
The agreement includes five billion euros in loans over four years, 1.8 billion euros in investment, and hundreds of millions for bilateral projects including on migration, said the European official.
Egypt, mired in a painful economic crisis, borders war-battered Libya and the center of two ongoing conflicts — the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Sudan’s war between the regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“Egypt is a critical country for Europe today and for the days to come,” the commission official said earlier, speaking on condition of anonymity and pointing to Egypt’s “important position in a very difficult neighborhood.”
Egypt already hosts around nine million migrants and refugees, including four million Sudanese and 1.5 million Syrians, the UN’s International Organization for Migration says.
The EU official said the deal includes steps to cooperate on “security, counter-terrorism cooperation, and protection of borders, in particular, the southern one” with Sudan.
The Gaza Strip “will not be the main focus but will be part of the discussion” in Cairo, the official added.
‘Eliminating irregular migration’
The delegation included three Mediterranean leaders — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, her Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides.
They were joined by Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose country currently holds the EU’s presidency.
“We need to be partners in eliminating irregular migration,” said De Croo, adding that this could be done by “creating perspectives and jobs for the young generation to eliminate the root causes.”
The agreement follows several controversial deals the EU has sealed with Libya, Tunisia, and Mauritania to stem the flow of irregular migrants across the Mediterranean Sea.
The EU’s border agency Frontex recorded last year nearly 158,000 migrant arrivals in Europe via the dangerous sea route, up by 50 percent from the previous year.
The trend has sparked rising anti-immigrant rhetoric in Europe and gains for right-wing populist parties in several EU nations.
Human rights groups have strongly condemned the deals with authoritarian governments.
US-based Human Rights Watch said it had documented “arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees by Egyptian authorities.”
