CAIRO/ISTANBUL
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Monday discussed efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire with US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff.
A Foreign Ministry statement said Abdelatty stressed the need to resume the ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages “as a prelude to sustaining the ceasefire and realizing President Donald Trump’s vision of establishing comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”
On Sunday, Abdelatty said that Cairo is working on a new Gaza deal that includes a 60-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of some Israeli hostages and the rapid entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
During a phone call with Witkoff, the Egyptian minister also underlined the necessity for the unhindered flow of humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave.
The top diplomat said Cairo is looking forward to hosting an international conference for Gaza reconstruction “once a ceasefire agreement is reached, in cooperation with the Palestinian government and the UN.”
Egypt, Qatar, and the US brokered on Jan. 19 a three-phased ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. The agreement was intended to ultimately bring an end to the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza.
The deal, however, collapsed after Israel resumed its attacks on the enclave on March 18.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing 56,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since October 2023.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.