Amid a growing wave of violence in the Middle East, the organizers of the Cairo International Film Festival have decided to postpone the event.
This was announced in a statement posted on Wednesday on CIFF’s official Facebook page.
According to the press release, Dr. Neveen El-Kelani, Egypt’s Minister of Culture, decided to move the festival’s original dates of November 15–24, 2023.
The 45th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival was supposed to take place from November 15 to November 24, but the statement said that “the Minister of Culture Dr. Neveen El-Kelani has decided to postpone the Festival and the Festival will be determined at a later date.”
Though there was no official explanation provided, the Israel-Hamas conflict has been a major source of rising tensions in the Middle East over the past week.
Israel, which borders Egypt, declared war on the militant Hamas organization on October 8, 2023.
This announcement was made one day after militant fighters breached the nation’s heavily guarded border, killing over 1,400 people—the majority of whom were civilians.
In an attempt to track down members of the militant group, Israel heavily bombed the Gaza Strip in response to the attack. But the bombardment is still killing more Palestinian civilians.
Most recently, on Tuesday, a hospital in the area was bombed, killing hundreds of people.
According to health officials in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas, the explosion was caused by the most recent round of Israeli airstrikes and killed between 200 and 300 people.
In contrast, the Israeli Defense Forces claimed that an outgoing Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired was the cause of the explosion and blamed Hamas militants for it.
The Rafah border crossing, the only route between Gaza and Egypt, is still a gathering place for Palestinian refugees who are hoping to flee the conflict.
But because of Israeli airstrikes, the crossing has been completely closed.
