Sisi calls for intensifying international efforts to cease escalation in Gaza

Ahram Online , Tuesday 18 May 2021

The president said the establishment of the Palestinian state as per international legitimacy resolutions is the only way to end the long-standing violence

Sisi
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi (L) and France's President Emmanuel Macron during a summit held in Paris on Tuesday, 18 May 2021, on the heels of the recent escalation in Gaza, while Jordan's King Abdullah II is seen on a screen behind both presidents as he participated via video conferencing. (Photo courtesy of the Egyptian presidency)

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has called for intensifying international efforts to urge Israel to cease the current escalation with the Palestinian factions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

President El-Sisi said that the establishment of the Palestinian state per international legitimacy resolutions is the only way to end the long-standing violence in Palestinian territories.

"There is no way to end the vicious circle of the long-standing violence and the flare-up of the situation in the Palestinian territories except by finding a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause that leads to the establishment of a Palestinian state," El-Sisi stressed.

El-Sisi's remarks came during a trilateral summit, held on Tuesday, with France's President Emmanuel Macron and Jordan's King Abdullah II to discuss the means to de-escalate the flare-up in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israeli airstrikes, which erupted on 10th May in the Gaza Strip, have killed more than 200 Palestinians, including many children and women as well as injuring over 1400.

The Egyptian president warned about the consequences of the attempts to shift the demographic situation in Jerusalem saying "these attempts require an immediate cessation."

The recent flare-up was sparked after Israel turned the holy Al-Aqsa compound to a battlefield as part of its crackdown on Palestinians in East Jerusalem to implement its years-long plans to evict Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah district in East Jerusalem as well as annex more parts of the Palestinian territories.

Palestinian factions in Gaza, in retaliation to the crackdown, have fired a wave of rockets towards Israel, killing nearly 10 people.

Egypt, the president said, will continue to do its best to stop the current mutual escalation via intensifying contacts with all concerned international parties, and with both the Palestinian and Israeli parties.

He voiced, during the summit, Egypt's support for all international efforts meant to end the current tension, restore stability and limit bloodshed and losses.

He called for intensifying international efforts to urge Israel to cease the current escalation with the Palestinian factions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to allow for the restoration of calm, and provide various international forms of support and aid to the Palestinians.

El-Sisi has announced the allocation of $500 million as part of an Egyptian initiative for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

The airstrikes have destroyed tens of buildings and infrastructures in the enclave, leaving hundreds of Palestinians homeless.

On Sunday, Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip and received several Palestinians wounded in the recent Israeli aggression.

It also allocated 11 hospitals nationwide to receive injured Palestinians from Gaza, in addition to dispatching 65 tons of medicine and medical supplies worth EGP 14 million to aid Gaza.

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