Egypt will not participate in the displacement of Palestinians, an “act of injustice” that would threaten Egyptian security, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said on Wednesday, his first public response to Donald Trump’s call for Cairo to take in residents of the Gaza Strip.
Speaking at a press conference with visiting Kenyan president William Ruto, Sisi said Egypt would work with the new US president to reach peace between Israel and Palestinians based on a two-state solution.
“Regarding what is being said about the displacement of Palestinians, it can never be tolerated or allowed because of its impact on Egyptian national security,” Sisi said.
Trump’s comments
Trump said on Saturday that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he called a “demolition site” following 15 months of war ignited by Hamas’s October 7 2023 attacks that made most of its 2.3 million people homeless.
Any suggestion that Palestinians leave Gaza, the territory they want for a state, has been anathema to the Palestinian leadership for generations and repeatedly rejected by neighboring Arab states since the Gaza war began in Oct. 2023.
Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt. The foreign ministries of Egypt and Jordan have both rejected Trump’s suggestion in recent days.
