Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his counterparts from Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, 24 May, 2024. Photo: Egyptian Foreign Ministry
The meeting was attended by the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.
According to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry's Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid, discussions also touched on ways to sustain unimpeded aid delivery into the besieged Strip and push the political track towards implementing the two-state solution.
The ministerial meeting with Macron reflects the French side's commitment to communicating and coordinating with Arab ministers to push for a ceasefire in Gaza and end the humanitarian crisis in the strip, according to Abu Zeid.
Early Saturday, Israel carried out strikes on the Gaza Strip, including the Palestinian City of Rafah, a day after the International Court of Justice ordered it to halt its military operations in the southern city and open the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt to allow the entry of humanitarian aid.
In a statement issued shortly after the ICJ’s ruling, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry praised the court's decision, urging Israel to comply with its legal obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and international humanitarian law.
Cairo also called on Israel to implement all the provisional measures issued by the top United Nations court, which are legally binding and enforceable as decisions from the highest international judicial authority.
The Arab-Islamic ministerial committee, formed in November by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit in Riyadh, primarily aims to halt the ongoing Gaza war and address the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the strip by mobilizing immediate international action.
Months ago, Paris hosted meetings that brought together the mediators of the Gaza negotiations, Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, to discuss a way to reach a ceasefire in the Strip.
Israel, accused of genocide before the ICJ, has killed about 35,800 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023.
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