Egypt's Sisi, Zelensky Again Discuss Ukraine Crisis

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a joint statement with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades after a trilateral summit between Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, in Athens, Greece, October 19, 2021. (Reuters)
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a joint statement with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades after a trilateral summit between Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, in Athens, Greece, October 19, 2021. (Reuters)
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Egypt's Sisi, Zelensky Again Discuss Ukraine Crisis

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a joint statement with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades after a trilateral summit between Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, in Athens, Greece, October 19, 2021. (Reuters)
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a joint statement with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades after a trilateral summit between Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, in Athens, Greece, October 19, 2021. (Reuters)

For the second time in a week, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi held a telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the developments of the Ukrainian crisis.

“The Ukrainian president reviewed the latest developments in this context, especially with regard to the course of negotiations,” Sisi’s office said.

He emphasized the importance of addressing all means that can lead to calm and a peaceful solution to the conflict. He stressed Egypt's keenness to exert all efforts to that end, whether at the bilateral, regional or international levels.

In March, Egypt had joined 140 other nations in voting in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution calling on Russia to end the fighting and withdraw its military forces from Ukraine.

The vote included five against, while 35 countries abstained.

Egypt said it voted in favor of the resolution in line with its respect for international law and the UN Charter.

However, Cairo said the resolution should not avoid looking into the main reasons behind this crisis, rejecting to the principle of imposing economic sanctions outside the international multilateral system and warning of the economic and social repercussions of this crisis.

Egypt also undelrined the importance of upholding dialogue and diplomatic solutions, as well as efforts that would speed up reaching a political settlement to the crisis in a manner that preserves international security and stability, and ensures that the situation does not escalate or deteriorate.

Less than a week ago, Sisi received a phone call from Zelensky, who briefed him on the latest developments in Ukraine.

Sisi expressed his appreciation for Ukrainian measures to facilitate the exit of Egyptians from Ukraine and to ensure their safety and security.



UN Races to Feed One Million Gazans after Truce

People walk past trucks loaded with aid waiting to cross into Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on January 19, 2025. (AFP)
People walk past trucks loaded with aid waiting to cross into Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on January 19, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Races to Feed One Million Gazans after Truce

People walk past trucks loaded with aid waiting to cross into Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on January 19, 2025. (AFP)
People walk past trucks loaded with aid waiting to cross into Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on January 19, 2025. (AFP)

The UN's World Food Program said Sunday it was moving full throttle to get food to as many Gazans as possible after border crossings reopened as part of a long-awaited ceasefire deal.

"We're trying to reach a million people within the shortest possible time," the WFP's Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told AFP, as the Rome-based UN agency's trucks began rolling into the strip.

"We're moving in with wheat flour, ready to eat meals, and we will be working all fronts trying to restock the bakeries," Skau said, adding the agency would attempt to provide nutritional supplements to the most malnourished.

An initial 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas is meant to enable a surge of sorely needed humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory after 15 months of war.

"The agreement is for 600 trucks a day... All the crossings will be open," Skau said.

The first WFP trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south and through the Zikim crossing in the north, the agency said in a statement, as it began trying to pull "the war-ravaged territory back from starvation".

"We have 150 trucks lined up for every day for the next at least 20 days," Skau said, adding that the WFP was "hopeful that the border crossings will be open and efficient".

There needs to be "an environment inside (Gaza) that is secure enough for our teams to move around," so that food "does not just get over the border but also gets into the hands of the people".

"It seems so far that things have been working relatively well.... We need to now sustain that over several days over weeks," he said.

Before the ceasefire came into effect, WFP was operating just five out of the 20 bakeries it partners with due to dwindling supplies of fuel and flour, as well as insecurity in northern Gaza.

"We're hoping that we will be up and running on all those bakeries as soon as possible," Skau said, stressing that it was "one of our top priorities" to get bread to "tens of thousands of people each day".

"It also has a psychological effect to be able to put warm bread into the hands of the people".

WFP also wants to "get the private sector and commercial goods in there as soon as possible," he said.

That would mean the UN agency could replace ready meals with vouchers and cash for people to buy their own food "to bring back some dignity" and allow them "frankly to start rebuilding their lives".

WFP said in a statement that it has enough food pre-positioned along the borders -- and on its way to Gaza -- to feed over a million people for three months.

Vast areas of Gaza have been devastated by Israel's retaliatory assault on the territory after the October 7 Hamas attack last year sparked the war.

The attack, the deadliest in Israel's history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 46,913 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.