Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry denied that his country had received an offer from the US and Israel to help pay its debts in exchange for receiving Palestinians fleeing war-torn Gaza – a potential mass exodus that the cash-strapped country has rejected more than once.
The Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s statements on Thursday come in response to questions fielded by journalists on whether Egypt had received any pressure to allow the entry of large numbers of Palestinians fleeing the conflict on its northeastern border.
Speaking in Cairo, Shoukry added that Egypt is working with its international partners to try to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the besieged territories.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other officials strongly ruled out any idea of transferring Gazans to the Egyptian border region in northern Sinai, saying such a move would pose a security threat and undermine Palestinian hopes for establishing their own state.
Egypt, which is going through its worst economic crisis in years, is one of the most indebted countries in the Middle East, spending nearly 10 percent of GDP on interest payments alone, according to Bloomberg Economics data.
