Broad Participation Anticipated in Egypt’s Int’l Peace Summit

A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace shows Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on October 19, 2023. (Photo by Chris Setian / Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)
A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace shows Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on October 19, 2023. (Photo by Chris Setian / Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)
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Broad Participation Anticipated in Egypt’s Int’l Peace Summit

A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace shows Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on October 19, 2023. (Photo by Chris Setian / Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)
A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace shows Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on October 19, 2023. (Photo by Chris Setian / Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)

The international peace summit on Palestine, scheduled to be hosted by Cairo on Saturday, is expected to witness “broad and high-level international participation,” informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

This summit is part of an initiative that calls for “the urgent commencement of discussions on a comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the two-state solution,” which has garnered support from China and Russia.

After a meeting of the National Security Council last Sunday under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt extended an invitation to host a regional and international summit on the Palestinian cause.

Sources cited by Egyptian media revealed that the attendance of several leaders from Arab and Gulf countries, as well as Türkiye, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, and the UN Secretary-General, has been confirmed.

Egypt's vision to leverage the current worldwide attention on the Palestinian issue for discussions towards a comprehensive resolution and revitalizing the peace process has garnered substantial support from both Arab and international communities.

This was affirmed by Samaa Suleiman, the representative of the Foreign, Arab and African Affairs Committee in the Egyptian Senate.

Suleiman shed light on “the international community’s lack of neutrality in dealing with the Palestinians and the obstruction of any efforts aimed at accepting Palestine as a full member of the UN.”

Suleiman stressed “the importance of urging the international community to find a just, comprehensive, and lasting solution to the Palestinian cause, based on the two-state solution, and activating the right to self-determination for the Palestinian people by establishing their independent state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital."

For his part, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly praised Egypt’s initiative to host an international summit on Saturday to address the ongoing crisis and coordinate international efforts to de-escalate tensions and violence.



Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill 9, Including 2 Children

A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill 9, Including 2 Children

A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)

Palestinian medical officials said Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza early Saturday have killed at least nine people, including two children.

One strike hit a group of people in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, killing at least five people, including two children, according to the Health Ministry’s Ambulance and Emergency service.

Another strike hit a house in the northern part of Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four people, the Awda hospital said. The strike also left a number of wounded people, it said.

The Israeli military did not have any immediate comment on the strikes, but has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas.

Earlier, the army warned residents in parts of central Gaza to evacuate, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian fighters.  

The warnings cover areas along a strategic corridor in central Gaza, which was at the heart of obstacles to a ceasefire deal earlier this summer.  

The military warned Palestinians in areas of Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps, located along the Netzarim corridor, to evacuate to the area the military designated a humanitarian zone, an area called Muwasi along Gaza’s shore.  

It’s unclear how many Palestinians are currently living in this area, parts of which were evacuated previously.  

Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to heavily destroyed areas of Gaza where they had fought earlier battles against Hamas and other fighters since the start of war one year ago.  

The vast majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people has been displaced in the war, often multiple times, and hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps.  

Others have remained in their homes despite being ordered to leave, saying nowhere in the isolated coastal territory feels safe.  

At least 41,825 Palestinians have been killed and 96,910 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the enclave's health authorities said on Saturday.