2024-02-21 01:02:45
Al-Sisi warns of the danger to the region of the continued escalation in Gaza
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi warned of “the danger of continued escalation in Gaza and its repercussions on the stability of the region,” at a time when Egyptian mediation efforts continue in an effort to agree on a truce in the Gaza Strip and complete a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the Hamas movement.
A delegation from the movement arrived in Cairo on Tuesday to hold discussions with Egyptian officials. Hamas said, in a press statement, that the delegation was headed by the head of the movement’s office, Ismail Haniyeh. She indicated that “discussions will be held in Cairo with Egyptian officials about the political and field conditions in light of the war on Gaza, and the efforts made to stop the aggression, provide relief to citizens, and achieve the goals of the Palestinians.”
Ismail Haniyeh (AFP)
Last Tuesday, Cairo hosted a quadripartite meeting that included the intelligence chiefs of Egypt, Israel, and the United States, in addition to the Prime Minister of Qatar, to discuss a proposal for a “truce” in Gaza, which was formulated during a similar meeting held in Paris, but the Cairo meeting ended “without arriving.” To an agreement.
Mediators from Egypt, the United States, and Qatar are seeking to reach a truce and prisoner exchange agreement, before the start of the month of Ramadan, but observers believe that “there is currently no prospect of any agreement,” in light of the differing positions between Israel and the Hamas movement.
Brett McGurk (X Account)
This comes as the US envoy to the Middle East, Brett McGurk, is expected to go to the region this week “to hold discussions regarding the release of detainees held by the Hamas movement,” according to Reuters, according to a senior official in the administration of US President Joe Biden, on Tuesday. . McGurk is scheduled to visit Egypt on Wednesday, before heading to Israel on Thursday.
In a related context, Sisi warned of “the danger of the continued escalation in Gaza and its repercussions on the stability of the region,” according to a statement by Egyptian presidential spokesman Ahmed Fahmy on Tuesday. During his meeting with the head of the Iraqi National Wisdom Movement, Ammar al-Hakim, in Cairo on Tuesday, he stressed “the need for the international community to assume its responsibilities to protect civilians and establish a ceasefire,” stressing “the necessity of a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian issue.”
The Egyptian Presidency spokesman stated that the meeting between Sisi and Al-Hakim “discussed the tense regional situation and the war in the Gaza Strip,” and “discussed the intensified Egyptian efforts to achieve a ceasefire and implement humanitarian aid in large quantities sufficient to alleviate the enormous human suffering in the Strip.”
For his part, Al-Hakim stressed “the centrality of the Egyptian role in protecting the security and stability of the Arab region.”
A general shot of the Rafah border crossing from the Gaza side (dpa)
On Monday evening, the Egyptian President, in a phone call from the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, discussed the regional situation, especially the situation in the Gaza Strip. The spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency said, in an official briefing, that the Belgian Prime Minister “confirmed his country’s agreement with the Egyptian vision and its readiness to support all the efforts it is making in this context, especially with regard to ways to activate the two-state solution and establish an independent Palestinian state.” The Belgian Prime Minister stressed “his country’s keenness to continue coordination and consultation with Egypt to prevent the expansion of the conflict and restore stability in the region,” according to the official spokesman.
During the meeting, the Egyptian President reviewed “his country’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire, exchange detainees, and implement humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza in a sustainable and urgent manner,” appreciating Belgium’s position “in support of calm and rejecting continued escalation.”
In addition, the Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, confirmed during his meeting with the President of the Ivorian National Assembly, Adama Bektogua, in the administrative capital in Cairo, on Tuesday, that “the Egyptian state is continuing its role of providing all relief efforts to the Palestinians and playing the role of mediation between the two parties to stop this war.” The President of the Ivorian National Assembly called for “an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the opening of safe humanitarian corridors,” according to an official statement from the Egyptian government.
Yahya Al-Sinwar, Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, in a photo dating back to 2022 (dpa)
On the other hand, the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz”, on Tuesday, quoting an official in the Israeli army, denied media reports that “claimed to the army that the leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, had left the Gaza Strip for Egypt via tunnels,” stressing that “the army is not… He has any information about Sinwar’s departure from the Gaza Strip.”
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