Egypt’s Islamic institutes condemn Israeli announcement of re-occupying Gaza Strip

CAIRO – 10 August 2025: Egypt’s Islamic institutions strongly condemned Israel’s announcement of its intention to impose full military control over the Gaza Strip.

Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif Sheikhdom, Egypt’s top Islamic institute, strongly condemned, in the firmest terms, the brutal occupation’s decision to seize and fully annex the lands of the Gaza Strip. 

In a statement released on Saturday, Al-Azhar said that this unjust decision is irrefutable evidence that the occupation’s aim is to erase Palestine from existence, obliterate its presence from the world map, and swallow what remains of its land through the force of arms and state-sponsored terrorism.

Al-Azhar stressed that this unjust decision is a permanent stain of disgrace on the forehead of international institutions that have failed to confront such criminality. It called for an end to the occupation’s tragic policies, which are built on arrogance and violence, trampling on all international charters, laws, and UN resolutions, and persisting on committing more massacres against the Palestinian people, the rightful owners of the land.

Al-Azhar called for the urgent mobilization of all Arab, Islamic, and international efforts, and the intensification of all forms of political, diplomatic, and legal pressure, to put an end to this tragedy. It urges the world to stop this recklessness, and to stand firmly against the occupier’s attempts to drag the entire region into chaos and collapse.

Meanwhile, Nazir Muhammad Ayyad, grand mufti of Egypt and chairman of the General Secretariat of Fatwa Authorities, condemned the Israeli Cabinet's decision to completely occupy the Gaza Strip. 

He added that this decision constitutes a dangerous shift in the course of aggression against the Palestinian people and a flagrant violation of international law and UN resolutions. 

The Israeli decision represents an infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, who have been suffering under occupation for decades, the grand mufti added.

Ayyad also called on the Arab and Islamic nations, both peoples and governments, to unite, intensify support, and stand firmly against these schemes aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause, which has been and will remain the central issue of the Islamic nation and the true key to achieving just and lasting peace in the region.

The Israeli Security Cabinet has approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal for the Israeli military to reoccupy Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of an effort to push more than one million Palestinians toward the southern part of the besieged enclave.

According to a statement from the Israeli prime minister's office, published by The Times of Israel, the cabinet endorsed Netanyahu’s plan aimed at defeating the Palestinian Hamas movement. The statement noted that Israel would provide humanitarian assistance to civilians “outside combat zones.”

A majority of cabinet members also backed a five-point list of demands that Israel would require in exchange for ending the war in Gaza. These include the disarmament of Hamas; the return of all 50 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive; the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control over the territory; and the establishment of an alternative civilian government or the reinstatement of the Palestinian Authority.