Cairo to Reject Any Agreement that Undermines Its Water Rights

 Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the Nile. Reuters file photo
Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the Nile. Reuters file photo
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Cairo to Reject Any Agreement that Undermines Its Water Rights

 Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the Nile. Reuters file photo
Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the Nile. Reuters file photo

One week ahead of an African Union deadline set for Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan as the latest bid to reach an agreement on the mega-dam that Addis Ababa is building, Cairo threatened to thwart any attempt of transgression of its water rights.

“Egypt will never allow any transgression of its rights or accept any deal underestimating its rights or affecting its people’s lives,” Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Atti said Thursday.

He said his country was keen to show goodwill and cooperate with Ethiopia concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), but Ethiopia hampered the course of negotiations.

In an interview with the DMC satellite channel, the Minister said his country is strong and all its agencies are working on the GERD dispute.

“Ethiopia is withdrawing from all agreements reached during trilateral meeting in Washington and clinging to unilateral filling of the dam,” Abdel Atti said.

Previous rounds of negotiations between the three countries, held virtually from 9-17 June, failed to reach an agreement due to Ethiopia's refusal to enter into a legally binding agreement and its announcement that it will begin filling the dam in July even without approval from the two downstream countries.

“Egypt’s annual quota of Nile water is 55.5 billion cubic meters, expounding that filling the dam during periods of dryness will cause a huge crisis,” Abdel Atti said, adding that Cairo wants a written agreement reassuring both Egyptian and Sudanese people over their rights.

The Minister explained that his country always seeks to achieve stability in the region.

“I am looking forward to make use of the African Union intervention to settle the dam crisis,” Abdel Atti said.



Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
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Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed at least 29 Palestinians, including six children near a water distribution point.

The attacks came with apparent deadlock in a week of indirect talks in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the territory.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight, "including women and children" and wounding others.

An Israeli airstrike hit a family home near the Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Gaza City, resulting in "10 martyrs and several injured", Bassal said.

In central Gaza, six children were among eight people killed when a drone "hit a potable water distribution point in an area for displaced people" in the Nuseirat camp, he added.

Several other people were wounded, he said.

In the territory's south, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defense spokesman.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza, more than 21 months into the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack.

On Saturday, the military said fighter jets had hit more than 35 "Hamas terror targets" around Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.

The vast majority of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties.