EGYPT DENIES ASSISTING ISRAEL’S MILITARY AFTER EXPLOSIVES REPORTS

The location of the cargo ship MV Kathrin while docked at the Port of Alexandria [Planet Labs PBC]

Egypt’s army denied it assisted Israel’s military after media reports said an Egyptian port received a shipment of high explosives bound for an Israeli defence contractor.

“The Egyptian Armed Forces categorically deny what has been circulated on social media and suspicious accounts and what is being promoted about assisting Israel in its military operations in general and in detail,” the army said in a statement.

Human rights lawyers on Wednesday filed a court appeal in Berlin seeking to block a 150-tonne shipment of military-grade explosives on board German cargo ship MV Kathrin, which they said was for Israel’s biggest defence contractor, Elbit Systems.

Earlier, Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV, citing a high-level source, said there was no truth to news reports that the MV Kathrin delivered military supplies for Israel to Alexandria Port.

__________________________________________________________________________

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

__________________________________________________________________________

Suspicious ship Kathrin spotted unloading cargo in Egypt’s Alexandria

Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency has identified the location of the cargo ship MV Kathrin at an Egyptian port through high-resolution satellite images captured on Wednesday.

The images show the ship, accused of transporting arms and explosives to Israel, unloading its cargo at the military dock at Egypt’s Port of Alexandria. Several countries previously banned and refused to receive the ship.

The European Legal Support Center said legal action was filed in Germany on behalf of three Palestinians from Gaza, arguing the shipment of primarily RDX explosives could be used in munitions for Israel’s war on Gaza.

“International humanitarian law prohibits all states from transferring weapons to a party in an armed conflict where there is a clear risk that doing so could contribute to war crimes or other serious violations of international humanitarian law,” said Patrick Wilcken, a researcher on military and security issues at Amnesty International.

He confirmed this obligation also includes goods in transit or arriving at any seaport.

Egyptian human rights lawyer Ahmed Aboulela Mady said lawyers on Thursday filed a complaint with the public prosecutor against the prime minister, the head of Alexandria Port Authority, and the executive director of EMCO regarding the reports that Kathrin has docked and unloaded in the city.

“These explosive materials are used by the Israeli occupation forces to kill civilians in Gaza and, currently, in Lebanon for over a year,” the lawyers said in their complaint.

“The entry of these explosive shipments into Egypt poses not only a threat to Egyptian and Arab national security but also portrays Egypt as a country violating international resolutions and supporting the genocide against our Palestinian brothers and aggression against our sisters in Lebanon.”

On 24 August, Namibia blocked the ship from entering its main harbour after receiving information that it carried RDX explosives bound for Israel.

According to ELSC, the ship has been denied entry at ports in several countries including Angola, Slovenia, Montenegro and Malta.

Saheeh Masr, an Egyptian fact-checking platform, cited a source from Alexandria port as saying that the ship arrived in the early morning of 28 October, entered the military pier on 29 October, and docked at pier 22, managed by the Egyptian navy.

“Since the night of 29 October, heavy equipment has been used to unload the cargo,” it reported.

It quoted a source and an eyewitness as saying: “Military pier operations have deployed military sweepers to unload the ship’s cargo since the evening of 29 October.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

__________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22