Egyptian minister calls West's response to Gaza suffering shameful

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Egypt’s foreign minister, on a visit to Greece on Wednesday, described the international response to the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza as shameful and urged powerful Western nations to increase pressure on Israel.

“The international community should be ashamed of the tragic situation unfolding in Gaza and the devastating actions being carried out by Israel,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters in Athens.

“What is unfolding is a human tragedy, and the suffering witnessed is a stain on the conscience of the international community,” he said.

Widespread reports of hunger in Gaza have heightened international concern over the devastating consequences of Israeli military operations launched nearly two years ago, following deadly attacks by Hamas-led militants inside Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Egyptian minister described Israel’s military campaign in the territory as a “systematic genocide,” but reiterated his government’s position that it “firmly rejects any displacement of the Palestinian people from their ancestral lands.”

Abdelatty held a two-hour meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis to discuss a planned undersea electricity grid connector between the two countries and an ongoing dispute between Greece and Libya over sea boundaries for offshore oil and gas exploration.

Greece and Egypt are also in talks over the legal status of the sixth-century Monastery of Saint Catherine in Egypt’s Sinai Desert.

Gerapetritis said that he had received assurances Wednesday of Cairo’s continued cooperation on both issues.