International law scholar and The Hill contributor Eugene Kontorovich has condemned Egyptian president al Sisi’s stance for effectively shunning humanitarian law in favour of geopolitical ideology.
Referring to the Organization of African Unity (OAU), its successor the African Union, the United Nations Refugee Conventions 1951, 1967 and UNRWA in an opinion piece for The Hill, Kontorovich finds Egypt has an unequivocal legal duty as well as moral obligation to open its doors to Gazan refugees.
Numbers provide no excuse, nor does any precedent or perceived complexity of extricating Hamas fighters from non-combatants, he posits. Kontorovich is a director of George Mason University’s Scalia Law School‘s Center for the Middle East and International Law.
Furthermore, the danger is the example Egypt might set for other countries to ignore humanitarian obligations, as written in rulebooks they themselves helped write.
The net result is Gazan refugees being trapped in what UNRWA has depicted “a hellhole”.
GazaPassage is working to ensure organisations such as OAU and UN listed above, and nations like Egypt, its neighbours and others around the world help non-combatants leave Gaza for humanitarian purposes.
Hamas spokesperson, Osama Hamden, last week described Al Sisi’s approach as being “real protection” for Palestinians, which GazaPassage invites its readers to unpack for themselves.
