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Turkey Pushes for Normalizing Ties with Egypt after Nine Years of Tension

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
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Turkey Pushes for Normalizing Ties with Egypt after Nine Years of Tension

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (Turkish Foreign Ministry)

Turkey has decided to appoint an ambassador to Egypt after nine years of mutual withdrawal of ambassadors and downgrading the diplomatic representation to the rank of chargé d’affaires between the two countries.

The move follows Egyptian authorities confirming that Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry would soon be visiting Istanbul to meet his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Cavusoglu said that Turkey may appoint an ambassador to Egypt as part of the normalization of relations with Cairo.

The normalization of ties between Turkey and Egypt is vital for the Eastern Mediterranean, the top Turkish diplomat said Thursday in a televised interview.

Cavusoglu also said that a reciprocal reappointment of ambassadors is possible, and the will exists on both sides to normalize ties.

The Turkish minister revealed that Shoukry would visit Istanbul this month.

“I will meet the Egyptian Foreign Minister at an iftar in Istanbul, during the current Ramadan, if there is no emergency,” said Cavusoglu in a Tuesday speech during a meeting of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party.

Despite saying that the meeting would take place soon, Cavusoglu did not specify an exact date for Shoukry’s visit.

Egypt’s relations with Turkey have been strained – with no shared ambassadors – since the 2013 ouster of Egypt’s late Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was backed by the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The rift between the two countries then continued to widen, most notably when Turkey voiced its opposition to the 30 June Revolution of 2013 and its condemnation of Egypt’s judicial sentences against members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt designated a terrorist organization in 2013.

Egypt has also slammed Turkey for harboring members and leading figures of the Muslim Brotherhood and allowing them to voice their anti-Egyptian government rhetoric on Turkish TV channels.

In May and September 2021, Egypt and Turkey held two rounds of exploratory talks at the level of deputy foreign ministers in Cairo and Ankara to discuss restoring relations between them.

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UN Agency Closes the Rest of Its Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle under Israeli Blockade

Palestinians receive bags of flour and other humanitarian aid distributed by UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians receive bags of flour and other humanitarian aid distributed by UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP)
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UN Agency Closes the Rest of Its Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle under Israeli Blockade

Palestinians receive bags of flour and other humanitarian aid distributed by UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians receive bags of flour and other humanitarian aid distributed by UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP)

The UN food agency is closing all of its bakeries in the Gaza Strip, officials said Tuesday, as food supplies dwindle after Israel sealed the territory off from all imports nearly a month ago.

Israel, which tightened its blockade and later resumed its offensive in order to pressure Hamas into accepting changes to their ceasefire agreement, said that enough food entered Gaza during the six-week truce to sustain the territory's roughly 2 million Palestinians.

Markets largely emptied weeks ago, and UN. agencies say the supplies they built up during the truce are running out. Gaza is heavily reliant on international aid, because the war has destroyed almost all of its food production capability.

Mohammed al-Kurd, a father of 12, said that his children go to bed without dinner.

“We tell them to be patient and that we will bring flour in the morning,” he said. “We lie to them and to ourselves.”

A World Food Program memo circulated to aid groups on Monday said that it could no longer operate its remaining bakeries, which produce the pita bread on which many rely. The UN agency said that it was prioritizing its remaining stocks to provide emergency food aid and expand hot meal distribution. WFP spokespeople didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that the WFP was closing its remaining 19 bakeries after shuttering six others last month. She said that hundreds of thousands of people relied on them.

The Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian affairs, known as COGAT, said that more than 25,000 trucks entered Gaza during the ceasefire, carrying nearly 450,000 tons of aid. It said that amount represented around a third of what has entered during the entire war.

“There is enough food for a long period of time, if Hamas lets the civilians have it,” it said.

UN agencies and aid groups say that they struggled to bring in and distribute aid before the ceasefire took hold in January. Their estimates for how much aid actually reached people in Gaza were consistently lower than COGAT’s, which were based on how much entered through border crossings.

The war began when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Hamas is still holding 59 captives — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel's offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, including hundreds killed in strikes since the ceasefire ended, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't say whether those killed in the war are civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Israel sealed off Gaza from all aid at the start of the war, but later relented under pressure from Washington. US President Donald Trump's administration, which took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire, has expressed full support for Israel's actions, including its decision to end the truce.

Israel has demanded that Hamas release several hostages before commencing talks on ending the war, negotiations that were supposed to have begun in early February. It has also insisted that Hamas disarm and leave Gaza, conditions that weren't part of the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas has called for implementing the agreement, in which the remaining hostages would be released in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pullout.