Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi on Sunday said that Israel’s response to Hamas’ large-scale attack amounted to “collective punishment” of the people in the heavily populated Gaza Strip.

Since the October 7 surprise attack, Israel has unleashed waves of airstrikes on Gaza, and the stakes are high for an imminent Israeli ground offensive in the territory.

“The ongoing act, I think, has gone beyond the right to self-defence on the side of Israel and has turned into collective punishment of the Gaza Strip populated by 2.3 million Palestinians,” he said in televised remarks at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Cairo.

Mr Blinken’s visit to Egypt is part of a regional tour to prevent Israel’s conflict with Hamas from spiralling into a regional war.

He has already visited Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Mr al-Sissi called for humanitarian aid deliveries to the blockaded territory to be facilitated to ease its people’s sufferings.

“It is very important to de-escalate tensions and also to facilitate the aid entry into the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Israel has stopped the entry of food, fuel and medicines to Gaza, prompting dire warnings about civilians’ conditions in the impoverished territory.

Mr al-Sissi said Egypt is trying to contain the situation and prevent other parties from entering the conflict.

Earlier Sunday, Mr al-Sissi chaired a meeting of Egypt’s national security council on the spiralling violence in Gaza.

A presidential statement issued after the meeting said Egypt would intensify efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance to the neighbouring Gaza Strip amid fears of mass displacement.

Rafah, the only border crossing from Gaza to Egypt, is currently closed due to the retaliatory Israeli bombardment of the strip.

Egyptian media on Saturday quoted unidentified Egyptian sources as saying that Cairo links the passage of foreign nationals from Gaza through the crossing to facilitate aid deliveries to the strip.

(dpa/NAN)