By Ken Afor
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said that his country is untouchable despite the conflict in Gaza which started on October 7.
According to Sisi, Egypt is a sovereign country which should be respected by all.
His words: “Egypt is a sovereign country and its sovereignty and position should be respected. Egypt is a strong country and it is untouchable.”
Meanwhile, the Egyptian president at a peace conference on Saturday however warned that a further escalation of the war between Hamas – the Palestinian militant group and Israel could become a “ticking time bomb” in the region.
Since the start of the conflict, Egypt has become a neutral ground for talks and negotiations summoned by the United Nations (UN) to broker peace between the two warring countries.
On Friday, Israel said it had targeted a drone it blamed on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The Egyptian military said the drone, which crashed in the Egyptian cities of Taba and Nuweiba near the border with Israel, injuring six people, had come from the southern Red Sea. It is not known who launched the drone.
“Regardless of where it comes from, I have warned of the expansion of the conflict. The region will become a ticking time bomb that impacts us all,” Sisi said, speaking at a conference.
Sisi held a peace summit last Saturday in which he called for support for Gaza, the release of hostages and an end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Since the war in Gaza, more than 6,000 people including women and children have died.
Israel said on Friday it was preparing the next phase of operations for a military strike against the Gaza Strip, amid concerns that a ground invasion of the Palestinian territories could spark a wider conflict in the Middle East.
On October 7, Israel bombed the densely populated Gaza Strip after Hamas attacked Israeli communities. Israel claims Hamas has killed about 1,400 people, including children, and taken more than 200 hostages, some of them infants and the elderly.
