Egypt Revises its Plans to Manage Water Amid Possible Flood Risks

Egypt’s delegation during the Cairo GERD talks (Egyptian Ministry of Water)
Egypt’s delegation during the Cairo GERD talks (Egyptian Ministry of Water)
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Egypt Revises its Plans to Manage Water Amid Possible Flood Risks

Egypt’s delegation during the Cairo GERD talks (Egyptian Ministry of Water)
Egypt’s delegation during the Cairo GERD talks (Egyptian Ministry of Water)

While Egypt is reviewing its plan to manage water amid potential flood risks, the North African nation will participate on Saturday in a new round of talks concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Egyptian Minister of Water Resources, Dr. Hani Sweilem, said a new round of Renaissance Dam negotiations will be held in Addis Ababa on December 16, 17, and 18 between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
The talks aim to reach a “legal” agreement over operating the dam following the third round of negotiations that ended in Cairo last October.
In July, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed agreed to initiate urgent negotiations to finalize an agreement between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan on the filling of the GERD and the rules of its operations.
The two leaders said they would make all the necessary efforts to finalize the agreement in four months.
Three rounds of negotiations were held in Cairo and Addis Ababa since then, but failed to achieve any progress.
An earlier statement by Egypt's Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said the “Ethiopian intransigence” was behind the failure of the GERD talks, but expressed hope that Addis Ababa will show political will and seriousness to reach a legally binding agreement to fill and operate the dam.
Egyptian Professor of Public International Law, Secretary General of The International Committee for The Defense of Water resources, Mohamed Mahran told Asharq Al-Awsat that the upcoming negotiations represent a real opportunity to resolve the outstanding differences between the three countries and to reach a legally binding agreement that takes into account the water rights of Egypt and Sudan.
Mahran said the worsening economic crisis in Ethiopia could push Addis Ababa to back down from “its rigid positions towards the Renaissance Dam file.”
But at the same time, he warned against “the escalation of the crisis and failure to reach a solution,” stressing that the negotiations are the last chance to avoid a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe.
Egypt and Sudan demand a binding legal agreement regulating the filling and operating of the dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile.
The dam could reduce water supplies to the two countries and cause other environmental and economic damages.
Ethiopia defends its right to development and generates the electricity its people need.
In September, Addis Ababa said it had completed the fourth and final phase of filling a reservoir for its planned massive hydroelectric power plant on the Blue Nile.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Minister of Water Resources, Dr. Hani Sweilem, said on Friday that his ministry is monitoring the spillways of streams and valleys to ensure their readiness to receive flood water.
He said the work is particularly conducted in North and South Sinai, Matrouh, and Upper Egypt, where the spillways and valleys are located.
Egypt’s Ministry of Irrigation has already prepared a plan to manage water in Egypt till the year 2037 with investments of more than $50 million.

 

 



Israeli Airstrikes Kill 33 Palestinians in Gaza

Mourners carry the bodies of Palestinian children killed in an overnight Israeli strike on a house, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, during a funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, July 6, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Mourners carry the bodies of Palestinian children killed in an overnight Israeli strike on a house, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, during a funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, July 6, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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Israeli Airstrikes Kill 33 Palestinians in Gaza

Mourners carry the bodies of Palestinian children killed in an overnight Israeli strike on a house, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, during a funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, July 6, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Mourners carry the bodies of Palestinian children killed in an overnight Israeli strike on a house, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, during a funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, July 6, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza, hospital officials said on Sunday, as Israel's military said it has struck over 100 targets in the embattled enclave in the past day.

The fighting came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was preparing to fly to Washington for talks at the White House aimed at pushing forward ceasefire efforts.

US President Donald Trump has floated a plan for an initial 60-day ceasefire that would include a partial release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for an increase in humanitarian supplies allowed into Gaza. The proposed truce calls for talks on ending the 21-month war altogether.

Twenty people were killed and 25 wounded after Israeli strikes hit two houses in Gaza City, according to Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa Hospital that services the area.

In southern Gaza, 13 Palestinians were killed by strikes in Muwasi, an area on Gaza's Mediterranean where many displaced people live in tents, officials at Nasser Hospital in neaby Khan Younis told The Associated Press. Five of the dead belonged to the same family according to the hospital.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the individual strikes, but said it struck 130 targets across the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours.

It said the strikes targeted Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers, and that they killed a number of militants in northern Gaza.

The strikes occur as efforts to reach a ceasefire deal appeared to gain momentum. Netanyahu’s office said his government will send a negotiating team to talks in Qatar on Sunday to conduct indirect talks, adding that Hamas was seeking “unacceptable” changes to the proposal.

The planned talks in Qatar comes ahead of Netanyahu's planned visit on Monday to Washington to meet Trump to discuss the deal. It is unclear if a deal will be reached ahead of Netanyahu's White House meeting.

Hamas has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war’s end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the militant group’s destruction.