Sisi calls for “seizing the opportunity” of reaching an agreement in Gaza to avoid escalation

Egypt – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called on Saturday to “seize the opportunity of the negotiations” underway regarding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and to reach “an agreement that stops the bloodshed and spares the region the consequences of escalation.”

This came during Sisi’s meeting in Cairo with French Foreign Minister Stephane Le Foll, according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency.

During the meeting, Sisi said, “The continuation of the war in the Gaza Strip is dragging the region into a vicious and dangerous cycle of instability.”

He stressed the “need to combine all efforts to seize the opportunity of the ongoing negotiations and reach an agreement that stops the bloodshed and spares the region the consequences of escalation.”

Al-Sisi pointed out “the responsibility of the international community with regard to pressure to reduce escalation, and address the roots of the conflict by establishing a Palestinian state and implementing the two-state solution.”

According to the Egyptian statement, Sigourney indicated that President Emmanuel Macron had assigned him to conduct a regional tour to contribute to efforts to reduce tension and push towards calm, and that he would conclude his tour with a visit to Cairo to inform President Sisi of the results of the relevant French efforts.

The French Foreign Minister, who visited Lebanon on Thursday and Israel on Friday, praised the vital role played by Egypt in joint mediation with Qatar and the United States, with the aim of reaching an agreement to cease fire in the Gaza Strip and exchange prisoners.

Sigurney stressed “his country’s full support for these efforts, and its continued intensive activity with the aim of ending the current state of regional tension,” according to the Egyptian statement.

The French Foreign Minister’s visit to Egypt comes a day after mediators announced the end of two-day negotiations in Doha, during which a new proposal was presented to the Palestinian factions and Israel to reduce the gaps between them, while technical teams will continue working in the coming days on the details of implementing the terms of the agreement, according to a joint statement by Egypt, Qatar and the United States on Friday.

This comes as Washington, which is talking about the talks proceeding in a “positive atmosphere,” hopes that reaching an agreement between the factions’ movement and Israel will help dissuade Iran and the Lebanese factions from responding to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, and the leader Fouad Shukr in Beirut the day before.

With American support, Israel is waging its bloody war on the Gaza Strip, which has entered its 11th month, killing and wounding more than 132,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women, and leaving more than 10,000 missing, amidst massive destruction and deadly famine.

Anatolia