Two-state solution basic guarantor of peace: Sisi

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken met Egypt’s president on Tuesday for talks about a Gaza ceasefire after saying Israel had accepted a US “bridging proposal” for a deal and urging Hamas to do the same.

Egypt called for a Gaza ceasefire and warned of a regional war, after talks on Tuesday between President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and Antony Blinken.

“The time has come to end the ongoing war, and to resort to wisdom, and to uphold the language of peace and diplomacy,” Sisi said in a statement, adding all parties must be wary of the “danger of the conflict expanding regionally.”

Blinken, on his ninth visit to the Middle East in more than 10 months of the Israel-Hamas war, flew from Israel to the Egyptian Mediterranean city of El Alamein, where he met Sisi and other officials.

Sisi asserted that the two-state solution “is the fundamental guarantor of stability in the region.”

He further warned of the grave risks of the conflict expanding regionally, with potentially unimaginable consequences, stressing that saving lives must be the primary concern for all parties involved.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, after meeting with Blinken, “expressed his hope that the coming round of negotiations sees a genuine Israeli political will to end the war,” an official statement said.

Abdel Fattah Al Sisi (right) talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Alamein, Egypt, on Tuesday. AFP

More truce talks are expected in Egypt this week.

From El Alamein, Blinken was to head to a meeting with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha, where ceasefire mediators held talks last week with Israeli negotiators.

Meanwhile, Hamas in a new statement called the latest proposal presented to it a “reversal” of what it agreed to previously, and accused the US of acquiescing to what it called “new conditions” from Israel. There was no immediate US response.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, told families of fallen soldiers and hostages in Gaza that a key goal is to “preserve our strategic security assets in the face of great pressures from home and abroad.”

The right-wing groups of families, who oppose a cease-fire deal, said Netanyahu told them Israel will not abandon two strategic corridors in Gaza whose control by Israel has been an obstacle in talks. Netanyahu’s office did not comment on their account.

The meeting came as Israel’s military said it recovered the bodies of six hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that started the war, bringing fresh grief for many Israelis who have long pressed Netanyahu to agree to a cease-fire that would bring remaining hostages home.

An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday killed at least 12 people at a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City.

The Palestinian Civil Defence, first responders operating under the Hamas-run government, said around 700 people had been sheltering at the Mustafa Hafez school.

“We don’t know where to go … or where to shelter our children,” said Um Khalil Abu Agwa, a displaced woman at the site.

An Israeli airstrike in Deir Al Balah hit people walking down the street and seven were killed, including a woman and two children, according to an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies. More than 20 others were wounded.

Another airstrike in central Gaza killed five children and their mother, according to nearby Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

As the world marked World Humanitarian Day on Aug.19, the UAE reaffirmed its commitment to humanitarian work with its ongoing relief efforts in Gaza.

Through various initiatives under “Operation Chivalrous Knight 3,” the UAE has been at the forefront of providing aid to Palestinian people, reflecting the nation’s steadfast commitment to humanitarian causes.

Over the past 288 days, the UAE has dispatched four relief ships carrying 18,530 tonnes of diverse aid, including medical supplies, shelter materials, food, water, and clothing.

Additionally, 257 planes with 5,340 tonnes and 104 convoys with 19,819 tonnes of aid have been sent to support the displaced population.

The country has also bolstered Gaza’s healthcare sector by supporting hospitals and treating the injured. This includes the operation of the UAE field hospital in Rafah and the Floating Hospital in Egypt’s Al Arish, providing critical medical care.

Agencies