Palestinians in Gaza face ‘horrific injustice,’ says Egypt’s Coptic pope
CAIRO / ANKARA
Pope Tawadros II, head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, strongly condemned on Sunday the ongoing Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip as “one of the worst forms of injustice” against the Palestinians.
“Palestinians are subject to the most horrific forms of injustice in their daily lives amid the destruction of their homeland,” Pope Tawadros told the state television during Easter celebrations.
“Egypt, through all its institutions and bodies, stands united against both forced and voluntary displacement. As President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stated, we will never be part of this injustice,” he stressed.
The pope also emphasized the shared position between the Coptic Church and Al-Azhar, Egypt’s leading Islamic institution, regarding Israeli assaults on the Palestinians.
“We share one vision with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, that the world’s conscience must awaken to rescue our people in Gaza.”
Last month, an emergency Arab summit adopted a five-year, $53 billion Egyptian-led plan for Gaza’s reconstruction without displacing its residents.
However, both Israel and the US rejected the initiative, favoring a controversial proposal by US President Donald Trump, which promotes the relocation of Gaza’s population to neighboring countries like Egypt and Jordan, a plan firmly opposed by Arab and foreign countries and international organizations.
More than 51,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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