French leftist MPs visit Egypt’s Rafah on Saturday to urge permanent ceasefire in Gaza

Ahram Online , Friday 2 Feb 2024

A French parliamentary delegation, led by left-wing MP Éric Coquerel, will visit Rafah on the Egyptian-Palestinian border on Sunday to call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

 ric Coquerel
Eric Coquerel

 

The delegation will hold a press conference on Saturday in Cairo before heading to Rafah, French parliamentary sources told the Egyptian state’s news agency MENA.

The delegation is also scheduled to meet with representatives and officials from the Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS), the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Coquerel, a member of the opposition La France Insoumise party, will be joined by other left-wing MPs, including those from the socialist, communist, and green parties, according to reporting in French media.

Confirming the trip last week, Coquerel posted on X that “the decision of the International Court of Justice to recognize the violence suffered by the Palestinian civilian population and the threat of genocide against them gives even more relevance to the trip.”

“The objective [of the delegation] is to demand an immediate and lasting ceasefire so that all weapons fall silent, so that the Israeli military intervention, which has led to the massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, stops,” according to the delegation’s statement that accompanied Coquerel’s post.

The delegation is expected to be in Egypt from Saturday through Tuesday, according to French media. 

Israel has been facing mounting global pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza, including by European states, as the death toll caused by the Israeli aggression has risen to over 27,000 people, primarily women and children.

Currently, the world is pinning hopes on a proposal for an extended truce agreement between Hamas and Israel, negotiated by intelligence chiefs of Egypt, the United States, Israel as well as the Qatari prime minister in Paris early this week

If approved, the deal is expected to include a halt reportedly for six weeks in the Israeli assaults and the release of more than 100 captives still held by Hamas in the enclave in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

 

 

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