Nairobi — Egypt has accused the international community of failing to do enough to find a lasting solution to the Israel and Palestine decades of hostility that led to the worst invasion on October 7.
In an exclusive interview with Capital FM News, Egyptian Ambassador to Kenya Wael Nasr Eldin Attiya said that the deteriorating situation in Gaza calls for an immediate intervention by the international community to have the two parties back on the negotiating table.
United Nations Security Council in New York
He made reference to the recently adopted cease-fire resolution at the United Nations Security Council in New York, which, he says, is yet to materialize as Israel continues to bombard the Gaza strip in retaliation to the invasion into Israel.
More than 10,000 people, including soldiers and civilians from both Israel and Gaza have been killed and more than 200 remain in hostage hands with some believed to to be dead or seriously injured.
"There was a resolution recently adopted by the [UN] General Assembly which was voted with a majority of 120 countries, Kenya included, that voted for a ceasefire, but we haven't seen any movement in that direction. In fact, after the adoption of this resolution by the General Assembly, Israel started its ground incursions on Gaza the same day. We think that it's not enough," he said.
He appealed to the International community to press both sides for an immediate ceasefire to allow full access for humanitarian assistance to Gaza adding that the lives of over 2.3 million people are at stake.
Ambassador Attiya stated that before the Hamas onslaught on Israel, Gaza received an average of 400 trucks of food, petrol, and other commodities from Israel each day.
However, after the October 7 attack, the Ambassador said that Gaza only received 84 trucks, over the last week expressing concern over the depletion of resources and food for the people in the disputed enclave.
"In a few days, fuel will run out from the UN in Gaza, water is very scarce, food is very scarce, the bakeries and shops are closed and food is not enough for the people. We are going to see really tragic events happening in Gaza if things do not develop very quickly," Ambassador Attiya said even as Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a "long and difficult war ahead"
"It is never through the continuation of the existing hostilities that these parties will solve the situation. They have to sit and talk, and they cannot talk while the guns are talking," he said.
Need for strategic thinking
The Ambassador said that instead of repeated retaliatory attacks on both sides, there needs to be more strategic thinking by the international community.
The Egyptian envoy to Kenya pleaded with both Israel and Hamas to exercise self-restraint and to calm the situation down.
Instead of focusing on "blanket condemnation" Ambassador Attiya said that the warring parties and the international community should first deal with the root of the conflict.
Israel-Palestine conflict started decades ago
"The talk about condemning one side or the other will not help. I mean if we go on the blame game then we will not end anywhere ane it doesn't really matter, we are more concerned of the lives of those who are being killed every day it doesn't really matter who started it," he said, "The root of the conflict didn't start on the 7th of October. It started many, many decades before, and so long as it remains unresolved then there will be other rounds and rounds of hostilities."
He pointed out that It is only the two-state solution that will bring to an end the vicious cycle of violence and killings on both sides.
Ambassador Attiya said that it has been more than three decades since the start of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians but despite the efforts "nothing much has changed."
"Since then nothing has happened, except that now you can find some scattered locations in the West Bank that belong to the Palestinians, when you look at it, there's no continuity whatsoever. It looks more like Swiss cheese," he added pointing out that Gaza is one of the most condensed areas in the world.
According to Ambassador Attiya, Palestinians have been wanting to have peace and their own state for far too long without success which has resulted to the frustration of the people.
"It is not only that there is no peace agreement that has been reached throughout these years. There are even no talks of peace on the Israeli side," he observed during the interview in his Nairobi office.
This he says calls for the international community to rethink and re-strategize the manner in which it handles the whole situation.
The Egyptian envoy to Kenya said that Egypt is against any act of violence against civilians on both sides.
He stressed that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's administration does not condone the actions of Hamas against Israel during the October 7 surprise attack as well as the existing situation in Gaza but wants peace.
The most important decision at this point, he said, is to end the sufferings of innocent civilians who are bearing the brunt of the military campaign targeting Hamas terrorists.
Hamas collateral damage
Ambassador Attiya said that the response by Israel is doing more harm than good, leaving behind heavy casualties, mainly civilians.
"If Israel is actually seeking to get rid of Hamas. Let's look at the number of casualties and the victims. So far, there are 8000 people have been killed in Gaza, and 20,000 have been injured. When you look at the names published by the Israeli media of those who were killed by Hamas, you can count them with your own hands," he said,
"I could understand the logic, although I don't agree with it, but I can understand that in wars or in conflict situations some civilians might be collateral damage, but in this case, Hamas is the collateral damage, because the majority of those who are being affected are the civilians in Gaza."
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Ambassador Attiya reiterated that the only way to end the existing conflict and "deprive those extremists from either side of any card that they would use to initiate hostilities or to try to garner support is to basically end it with a peace agreement."
He described the Israeli response which includes carpet bombing, and cutting off food, water, and gas supply to Gaza as "collective punishment" that has devastating effects on innocent civilians.
The Ambassador further argued that the heavy-handed approach on the side of Israel could further exacerbate the situation and risk breeding a new generation of "extremists" instead of resolving the conflict.
"You cannot eliminate 2.3 million people that is genocide! Because even if they manage to eliminate Hamas, so long as the situation continues, there'll be another group that will emerge in the future. It could be Hamas again, or it could be under a different name, and it would do the same and maybe even more," he added.
The Ambassador said that Egypt is playing a leading role in a bid to halt further deterioration of the situation and to help the Palestinians recover from the devastating effects of Israel's military offensive as well as the return of hostages from both sides.
"We are pressing on the international community in general to make the parties really talk sense and to ceasefire. This is what we are trying to do as much as we can. We are warning the world of the consequences of what's happening," he said.
