Ashraf AboArafe
Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesman and Director of the Public Diplomacy Department at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that, on June 6, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Sameh Shoukry, received Mr. Brett McGurk, the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.
The official spokesman for the Foreign Ministry stated that the meeting’s talks dealt with the current status of the proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, the exchange of prisoners and detainees, and the mediation efforts undertaken by the Arab Republic of Egypt, the State of Qatar, and the United States of America in this regard, as the two sides stressed the importance of the establishment of Palestine. Hamas wants to complete the agreement as soon as possible, and take serious and real steps to ensure a ceasefire in the entire Gaza Strip.
In the same context, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed that Egypt will continue to intensify its efforts to stop the Israeli war against Gaza, stressing the urgent need to bring about a tangible qualitative and quantitative change in the volume of humanitarian and relief aid entering the Gaza Strip, in light of the worsening humanitarian crisis, the severity of which increased as a result of the military operations. Israeli forces in the Palestinian city of Rafah, repeatedly pushing citizens to flee to unsafe areas.
He also stressed the need for Israel to comply with its obligations as an occupying power, and with the decisions of the Security Council, the General Assembly, and the International Court of Justice, to ensure full and unhindered access to aid, and to open all land crossings between Israel and Gaza, as well as providing safe conditions for the work of international relief crews throughout the Strip.
For his part, the White House Coordinator expressed his keenness to continue joint work to end the crisis in the Gaza Strip, praising the high-level coordination between the two countries in this regard, and the vital role that Egypt plays on all humanitarian, political and security tracks to limit the crisis and contain its repercussions.
The official spokesman concluded his statements, indicating that the ideal path to resolving this crisis from its roots, and preventing the aggravation of its humanitarian and security repercussions or expanding the cycle of violence to other parts of the region, begins with an immediate cessation that leads to a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and ends with a serious political path to support the implementation of the two-state solution. And empowering the Palestinian people with their legitimate right to establish their independent state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and to live side by side in peace with Israel.
