Egypt has been intensifying its efforts to contain the situation in Gaza and is in talks with the US, Qatar and Turkey over humanitian measures.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani during a meeting in Cairo that aid was being discussed, according to Reuters.
Talks between Egypt and the United States, Qatar and Turkey focused on the idea of delivering humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula under a geographically limited ceasefire.
Turkey’s president said work had started to deliver aid.
Meanwhile US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was on Wednesday en route to the Middle East.
The Rafah crossing, which is the main exit point from Gaza not controlled by Israel, has been closed since Tuesday after Israeli bombardments hit on the Palestinian side, according to officials in Gaza and Egyptian sources.
Egypt has made repeated statements this week warning against the possibility that Israel’s assault on Gaza could lead to the displacement of residents from the enclave on to Egyptian territory.
Israel’s ambassador in Egypt, Amira Oron, said in post on social media that Israel had “no intentions in relation to Sinai, and has not asked Palestinians to move there ... Sinai is Egyptian territory.”
Asked about the prospect of displacement following a meeting with Tajani, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said: “Egypt was keen to open the Rafah crossing to provide humanitarian aid, food and medicine, but instability and the expansion of the conflict leads to more hardship and more refugees to safe areas, including Europe.”
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has called for essential “life-saving” supplies of fuel, food and water to be allowed into Gaza.
Guterres, in remarks to the press on Wednesday, said he will never forget the images of the “supercharged cycle of violence and horror”.
He said he was in continuous contact with leaders in the region, and warned against any “spillover” of the conflict. “I appeal to all parties – and those who have an influence over those parties – to avoid any further escalation,” he said.
Guterres called for the immediate release of all Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and urged that international humanitarian law to be upheld and civilians to “be protected at all times”.
