FM Abdelatty made his remarks during a meeting with US Senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley, members of the Senate Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees, according to a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The meeting was part of the senators' Mideast tour, which included a vist to the occuoied West Bank.
During the meeting, Abdelatty called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities and exert pressure on Israel to end its aggression on Gaza.
He underlined the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the strip, noting that they had reached famine levels.
Abdelatty also outlined the Egyptian-Qatari proposal aimed at securing a ceasefire, facilitating the entry of humanitarian and relief aid, and achieving the release of captives and detainees, the statement added.
Moreover, he warned of the grave consequences of the continued expansion of Israeli military operations in Gaza, coupled with the acceleration of settlement activity in the West Bank that undermines the prospects for a Palestinian state.
Senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley, among the most outspoken in their party against Israel’s blockade and the man-made famine unfolding in Gaza, are visiting Egypt as part of a broader Mideast tour that also includes Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Jordan.
Van Hollen, a senior member of the Senate foreign relations and appropriations committees, has recently described life in the Gaza Strip as “hell on earth”, calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to immediately restore the United Nations-led aid distribution.
He has led more than 20 Democratic Senators in urging the Trump administration to halt funding for the controversial US-Israeli so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), where Israeli soldiers have killed hundreds of desperate aid seekers since mid-May.
Van Hollen has described the GHF operation as a “death trap” for Palestinians and demanded that the delivery of aid to the strip be restored to United Nations (UN) agencies.
Visiting Rafah
According to the foreign ministry statement, the US senators shared their impressions from visits earlier in the day to Arish and Rafah, where they inspected Egypt's humanitarian operations.
He also emphasized Egypt's commitment to supporting the Arab plan for the early recovery and reconstruction of Gaza, confirming that Cairo will host a conference on this issue as soon as a ceasefire is achieved.
The US senators shared their impressions from visits earlier in the day to Arish and Rafah, where they inspected Egypt's humanitarian operations amid the Israeli blockade on the strip.
They visited the Egyptian Red Crescent's (ERC) central logistics hub, the Rafah crossing, and Egyptian medical facilities treating wounded Palestinians.
During their visit on Saturday to Arish and the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, Major General Khaled Megawer, the governor of North Sinai, told the US senators that food destined to hungry Palestinians often rots as it waits sometimes for months to enter the strip.
The governor added that aid convoys also wait two to three months before entering Gaza, with the Israeli authorities rejecting some shipments without explanation.
Some 5,400 trucks have been backed up in North Sinai, waiting to deliever food, water, and medicines to hungry Palestinians but hindered by Israel's blockade on their entry through the Karm Abu Salem crossing, Megawer stated.
Both Van Hollen and Merkley praised Egypt's tireless efforts to facilitate a ceasefire and provide humanitarian and relief support to the Gaza Strip.
During the talks, both sides reviewed prospects for strengthening bilateral relations between Egypt and the United States.
Egypt's top diplomat stressed the importance of the strategic partnership that has long united the two countries, expressing Cairo's aspiration for broader cooperation in the political, security, and military fields.
He further emphasized the need to advance economic, trade, and investment ties in a way that serves the mutual interests of both nations.
Additionally, the meeting touched on developments in Sudan, where Abdelatty reiterated Egypt's firm support for Sudan's state institutions and stressed the importance of safeguarding the country's sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity.
He also expressed Egypt's readiness to engage positively with initiatives aimed at securing an immediate ceasefire and alleviating the humanitarian suffering of the Sudanese people.
Democratic push for accountability
Senators Van Hollen and Merkley were part of a group of Democratic senators that called for an investigation into whether restrictions on humanitarian aid deliveries imposed by Israel and other foreign governments violate US law.
In a letter sent to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in May, the lawmakers stated that such actions could trigger provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits US security aid to countries that obstruct American humanitarian assistance.
The appeal, signed by Senators Van Hollen, Merkley, Dick Durbin, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Peter Welch, highlighted that restrictions have hindered the delivery of food, medical equipment, water purification systems, and other lifesaving supplies in countries ranging from Ethiopia and Sudan to Ukraine, Burma, Syria, and Gaza.
The lawmakers also pointed to the so-called Leahy Laws, which ban US assistance to foreign security forces implicated in gross human rights abuses.
They urged the GAO to assess whether the continuing Israeli restrictions in Gaza and other conflict areas fall under these prohibitions and to clarify whether US security aid is being provided in compliance with existing statutes.
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