Egypt’s Ambassador to Italy, Bassam Radi, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to an immediate, comprehensive, and sustainable cessation of hostilities in the Gaza /Strip. He underscored the urgent need to protect infrastructure, United Nations personnel, and workers in the medical and service sectors within the enclave.
Addressing the annual international conference of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Radi described the international community’s response to the plight of 2.5 million Palestinians in Gaza as “shameful.
“For over a year, these individuals have endured collective punishment, blockades, starvation, terrorisation, and both physical and psychological isolation – conditions that disgrace the global human conscience. Furthermore, they face intense pressures aimed at forced displacement, practices the civilised world should unequivocally reject but which remain objectives of the occupying power. The absence of a ceasefire agreement has left the situation teetering on the edge of jeopardising regional security and stability, Radi said.
He also highlighted the significance of the Cairo Ministerial Conference for Humanitarian Response to the Gaza Crisis, held on December 2 under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, with the participation of senior UN officials in Rome.
He emphasised the vital outcomes of the conference, particularly regarding the essential role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Radi urged Israel to lift the blockade, end the use of starvation as a weapon against Gaza’s population, and eliminate all obstacles to the immediate, sustained, and sufficient delivery of humanitarian aid through all crossings.
Egypt continues to advocate for the safe and equitable distribution of aid across all regions of Gaza, ensuring the necessary conditions for relief efforts to reach those in need, he concluded.
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