During an appearance on Sunday’s “State of the Union” on CNN, Biden National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan blamed Hamas for Americans who have been unable to leave Gaza through the Egyptian border.
He insisted the Biden administration was working with Egypt to ensure cooperation.
“I don’t know how many billions of dollars we give the Egyptians every year,” “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper said. “Tell — why can’t you tell President Sisi to open the border to let Americans out?”
“We have told President Sisi to open the border to let Americans out,” Sullivan replied. “The situation there at the crossing is actually more complicated. The Egyptians have, in fact, agreed to allow Americans to depart, to get safe passage through the Rafah Crossing. The Israelis agreed to ensure that the area around there would be safe, at least as far as they were able to do so. The question when we tried to move a group yesterday was actually Hamas taking steps to try and stop that from happening.”
“But we are continuing to work this around the clock. And we are doing all that we can to make sure that American citizens who are in Gaza can get through that border crossing. Secretary Blinken, in fact, is in Egypt today, meeting with the president of Egypt,” he continued. “This is at the top of his list to help get those American citizens out of Gaza. Anyone who is a U.S. citizen should have the right to free passage through there and then have the U.S. government facilitate their travel home.”
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