TEHRAN (FNA)- The Egyptian government has set some conditions for delivering Iran's humanitarian aid and medicine to the oppressed Palestinians who are under Israel's savage attacks and siege in the Gaza Strip, a top Iranian advisor informed on Tuesday.
"After follow-ups by Iran to send medicine to Gaza via Egypt, the (Arab) country in a letter to the Iranian foreign ministry has set conditions for the delivery of aids to Gaza," Iranian Parliament Speaker's top Advisor Hossein Sheikholeslam told FNA on Tuesday.

He reminded that Iranian officials have on several occasions asked Egypt to facilitate dispatch of foodstuff and medicine to Gaza, and that and Cairo has also promised to help Tehran in this regard.

Yet, the top advisor declined to mention what the conditions set by Cairo are.

On July 24, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered his foreign and health ministers to urgently forward medicine, medical equipment, first aid, and food stuff for the Palestinian people injured in the recent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

President Rouhani also asked the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) to harmonize with the Palestinian and Egyptian Red Crescent societies for delivering the Iranian medical aids, medical equipment, physicians as well as relief and rescue workers through the Rafah Passage to the oppressed and injured Palestinians in Gaza.

President Rouhani also asked Zarif to announce Iran's readiness for curing the injured Palestinians in the Iranian hospitals and to arrange for their safe transfer to Iran for the same purpose.

On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a phone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry discussed dispatch of medicine and foodstuff to the people of Gaza, and said, "Other contacts at other levels have also been made and today Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian had some detailed talks with his Egyptian counterpart in the same regard."

He expressed the hope that the Egyptian government would help the people of Gaza find access to medicine and the Palestinian patients and injured Gazans, who are mostly children and exposed to serious risks, be transferred to Iran for treatment.

Zarif, however, said that Iran has not received resolute response from the Egyptian side, "although the Egyptian foreign minister has promised twice that he will do his best in this regard and we hope to see results."

Also last week, Zarif in a telephone conversation with President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer called for all-out efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to war-stricken people in the Gaza Strip.

"Unfortunately due to the siege of Gaza, it is difficult to send humanitarian aid to this region while more international efforts are needed to send foodstuff and medicine to Gaza," Zarif said during his phone conversation with Maurer.

The two sides underlined the need for coordination between ICRC and Iran to send urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Yesterday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi said Tehran is resolved to dispatch humanitarian aid to the displaced people in the Gaza Strip and is in close contact with Cairo to pave the way to this end.

"Dispatch of humanitarian aid to Gaza must be coordinated with the International Committee of Red Cross and the Egyptian government, but the permissions needed to do so have not been issued thus far," Araqchi told reporters at the end of a one-day emergency meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Palestine Committee in Tehran on Monday.

Araqchi, who is also Zarif's Deputy for aiding Gazans, pointed out that the ministry continues contacting Cairo officials to explore new avenues for aiding Gazans with Iran's aid.

Last month, the Iranian Medical Council (IMC), in a statement, voiced readiness to dispatch physicians and expert teams to Gaza to render medical services to the defenseless Palestinian people in there.

Over 1,867 Palestinians have so far been killed and some 10,000 others injured since the Israeli military first launched its offensive against the Gaza Strip on July 8.

The Israeli military says three Israeli civilians and 69 soldiers have been killed in the conflict, but Palestinian resistance movement Hamas puts the fatalities at more than 150.

By Fars News Agency

 

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