Egypt Maintaining Efforts to Restore Calm in Gaza

 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and French President Emmanuel Macron pose for a family photo, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 1, 2023. (Reuters)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and French President Emmanuel Macron pose for a family photo, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 1, 2023. (Reuters)
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Egypt Maintaining Efforts to Restore Calm in Gaza

 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and French President Emmanuel Macron pose for a family photo, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 1, 2023. (Reuters)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and French President Emmanuel Macron pose for a family photo, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 1, 2023. (Reuters)

Egypt is persistently engaged in efforts to restore calm between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip.

“Cairo is currently seeking to restore calm and strengthen the truce and to prepare the way for the resumption of the peace process,” an Egyptian security source said.

On Friday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi reviewed his country’s efforts to calm the situation and extend the humanitarian truce to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, as well as Egyptian efforts to receive the wounded Palestinians and evacuate foreign nationals.

During his meeting with world leaders on the sidelines of the 28th Session of Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai, he underlined Egypt’s efforts to restore calm.

He stressed the need to provide the necessary protection for civilians, while striving to find the appropriate political path to reach a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue.

Sisi received several European officials in Cairo over the past week to discuss Gaza.

He met with Hungary’s President Katalin Novák and the foreign ministers of Slovakia and Portugal, in addition to the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium.

According to official statements, talks underscored the vital importance of reaching a permanent ceasefire, and to propose political solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

During a meeting between Sisi and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the COP28 conference in Dubai, the leaders agreed on the vital importance of reaching urgent solutions to the ongoing crisis and taking action to ensure the access of humanitarian assistance.

They stressed the need to launch a comprehensive political process aimed at reaching a just settlement to the conflict based on the two-state solution and in line with the relevant international resolutions.

Sisi met with British PM Rishi Sunak, and they agreed on the gravity of the current situation in the Gaza Strip, especially in light of the uncalculated consequences of expanding the conflict on the stability of the region.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian security source said on Friday that “Egypt made urgent contacts with both the Israeli and Palestinian sides as soon as the Israeli attacks renewed on Gaza.”

According to the German news agency, dpa, the source said Egypt and Qatar coordinated immediately after Israel resumed its attacks.

The source noted that both countries have initiated contacts with all parties involved in the implementation, monitoring and mediation of the truce, mainly the US, which joined Egypt and Qatar to help broker the now expired ceasefire.

The source confirmed that the talks were part of intensive negotiations held on Thursday night to extend the humanitarian ceasefire that lasted around seven days.



Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure, as they sought to suppress small militant units that have continued to hit troops with mortar fire, the military said on Friday.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had killed around 100 Palestinian fighters since Israeli troops began their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, which continued as pressure mounted for a deal to halt the fighting.

It said seven small units that had been firing mortars at the troops were hit in an air strike, while further south, in Rafah, four fighters were also killed in air strikes.

The Islamic Jihad armed wing said it fired rockets toward the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other Israeli towns near Gaza. No casualties were reported, the Israeli ambulance service said.

The continued fighting, more than nine months since the start of Israel's invasion of Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack, underlined the difficulty the IDF has had in eliminating fighters who have reverted to a form of guerrilla warfare in the ruins of the coastal strip.

A Telegram channel operated by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in Gaza, said fighters had been waging fierce battles with Israeli troops east of Khan Younis with machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.

Medics said at least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in eastern Khan Younis.

US PRESSURE

US President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, both urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a proposed ceasefire deal as soon as possible.

However there has been no clear sign of movement in talks to end the fighting and bring home some 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still being held in Gaza. Public statements from Israel and Hamas appear to indicate that serious differences remain between the two sides.

Local residents contacted by messenger app, said Israeli tanks had pushed into three towns to the east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al-Zanna and Al-Karara and blew up several houses in some residential districts.

The military said air force jets hit around 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets were fired into Beersheba in southern Israel.

Even while the fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, in the northern part of the enclave, Israeli tanks pushed into the Tel Al-Hawa suburb west of Gaza city, residents said.

A Hamas Telegram channel said fighters targeted an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot an Israeli soldier.

Medics said two Palestinians were also killed in an air strike in western Gaza city.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from armed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.