Arab ministers meet with Blinken in Cairo on Gaza crisis

CAIRO

Arab ministers met Thursday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Egyptian capital and presented him with their plan for a cease-fire in Gaza and a two-state solution.

Blinked arrived in Cairo earlier in the day for talks with Arab foreign ministers on a cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip. His regional visit marks the sixth since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.

He landed in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and is expected to arrive in Israel on Friday as part of his tour.

According statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Cairo hosted a meeting that brought together Blinken and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, United Arab Emirates Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Al Hashimy and the Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hussein Al-Sheikh.

They briefed Blinken on their plan for a cease-fire in Gaza followed by a new phase of tangible measures aimed at a political settlement through the two-state solution, the statement said.

An agreement was reached to hold an urgent meeting of experts from the participating countries in the coming days to identify coordinated steps to address the humanitarian crisis in the enclave, the statement added, without specifying a date.

The meeting addressed the crisis in Gaza and efforts to achieve a complete cease-fire and reiterated the rejection of any attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause or to displace the Palestinian people.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

Nearly 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and nearly 74,200 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war, now in its 167th day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling ordering Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul