Egypt, US Agree to Intensify Cooperation in Combating Terrorism

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his accompanying delegation (Egyptian Presidency)
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his accompanying delegation (Egyptian Presidency)
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Egypt, US Agree to Intensify Cooperation in Combating Terrorism

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his accompanying delegation (Egyptian Presidency)
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his accompanying delegation (Egyptian Presidency)

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to discuss ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries in combating terrorism and extremist ideology.

The presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said that Sullivan conveyed President Joe Biden's greetings to Sisi and his assurances on the importance and strength of the Egyptian-US alliance.

Washington wants to develop partnerships with Cairo and bring them to broader horizons during the coming period.

He indicated that this comes within the framework of close and extended cooperation relations between the two countries, particularly in light of the essential Egyptian role under Sisi’s leadership in the Middle East, as a mainstay for security and stability.

Sisi stressed Egypt's keenness to strengthen its extended strategic partnership with the US, intensify cooperation and coordination between the two countries at various levels since there are common interests between the two countries, and support efforts to restore security and stability in the Middle East because it suffers from tension and turmoil.

The president affirmed Egypt's firm position based on the need to strengthen the pillars and national institutions of countries in crises to end the suffering of their peoples, preserve their capabilities, and help fill the vacuum that allowed terrorist groups to expand and spread.

The National Security Advisor expressed the US administration's profound appreciation for Egypt's extended efforts to establish peace in the region, its primary role in the truce between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, and the initiatives for the reconstruction of Gaza.

Sullivan praised Egypt's efforts, and a consensus was reached on the importance of promoting cooperation between the two sides in this field during the next stage, given that terrorism is a significant global threat.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Head of General Intelligence Major General Abbas Kamel, US Chargé d'Affaires Nicole Shampaine, Middle East Coordinator at the Security Council Brett McGurk, Head of the North Africa Department of the US National Security Council Joshua Harris, Senior Advisor to the President of the US National Security Council Ariana Berengaut.



Board of Peace's Mladenov Says Gaza, West Bank Escalation Makes Two-state Solution 'Impossible'

Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed "Board of Peace" tasked with implementing the October 2025 ceasefire plan, speaks at the Hili Forum 2026 in Abu Dhabi on September 7, 2026.  (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed "Board of Peace" tasked with implementing the October 2025 ceasefire plan, speaks at the Hili Forum 2026 in Abu Dhabi on September 7, 2026. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
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Board of Peace's Mladenov Says Gaza, West Bank Escalation Makes Two-state Solution 'Impossible'

Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed "Board of Peace" tasked with implementing the October 2025 ceasefire plan, speaks at the Hili Forum 2026 in Abu Dhabi on September 7, 2026.  (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed "Board of Peace" tasked with implementing the October 2025 ceasefire plan, speaks at the Hili Forum 2026 in Abu Dhabi on September 7, 2026. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)

A top official within the US-backed Board of Peace said on Monday that a failure to move forward in Gaza paired with rising violence in the West Bank are making a two-state solution "impossible".

Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed "Board of Peace" tasked with implementing an October ceasefire plan, was speaking at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi.

"I would say that if Gaza continues the way it is now, or does not move into implementing... the plan that we have under the comprehensive plan, the two-state solution will become practically impossible," he said.

"Because, with everything that is happening in the West Bank, and with more than 50 percent of Gaza now under the control of the Israeli army and less than 50 percent under the control of Hamas, there is no credible pathway forward to a political resolution of the conflict," he added.

A roadmap agreed by Hamas on July 30 said that the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by the International Stabilization Force, the nascent unit that aims to deploy to Gaza if the situation calms. It is led by US Major General Jasper Jeffers.

Hamas had pledged to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that brought skepticism from Netanyahu but which Trump hailed as a breakthrough.

The West Bank has also seen a surge in violence since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip following Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, AFP reported.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory, home to some three million Palestinians.

"The only way that we can build back to that is if we have transitional governance, if we have decommissioning of weapons, if we have withdrawal in Gaza," he said.

On Sunday, Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a US envoy, told a press briefing in Kyiv that the upcoming Israeli elections were making Israeli leaders "a little irrational" on Gaza.

"We agree with them on the end state," Kushner said, referring to Israel. "They just have a crazy election and that makes them a little irrational in certain regards but we're very determined and we're working through these things."

"You can't go in if there's guns," he said, adding: "we're now starting to understand the scope of the militarisation of Gaza. It is beyond your comprehension. And so demilitarising it is not going to be easy."


Israeli Rubble-clearing in Gaza Could Erase 'Atrocity Crimes' Evidence: UN Expert

Palestinians carry some salvaged belongings as they leave the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip after they returned briefly to check on their homes on May 31, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Israeli Rubble-clearing in Gaza Could Erase 'Atrocity Crimes' Evidence: UN Expert

Palestinians carry some salvaged belongings as they leave the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip after they returned briefly to check on their homes on May 31, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

A UN expert warned Monday that large-scale rubble removal in parts of Gaza under Israeli control risked erasing traces of "atrocity crimes", and preventing the recovery and identification of human remains.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, warned in a statement that the implications of Israel's "ongoing removal, crushing and relocation of rubble in Gaza" were "profound".

"Gaza's rubble contains human remains and physical evidence relevant to the investigation of alleged international crimes, including genocide," she said, pointing to estimates from Palestinian authorities that more than 10,000 people remain buried under the debris in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.

The Italian-born independent expert has faced harsh criticism from Israel and some of its allies over her long-standing accusations that Israel is committing genocide and other war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Albanese, who was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2022 but who does not speak on behalf of the United Nations, said she had received credible information from multiple sources last month of "deliberate and widespread removal, crushing and transport of rubble".

In the devastated, Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory, "rubble is not just construction waste", the expert insisted.

"It is part of a crime scene, a graveyard, and the material record of what happened during a brutal and senseless bombing campaign that lasted two years."

- 'Illegal' -

Israel's full-scale war on Gaza -- which began after a Hamas attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023 -- reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble.

The relentless Israeli bombardment and ground offensive has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including more than 1,330 since a ceasefire agreed last October, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is under Hamas authority.

Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Many of the Palestinians killed in Gaza are children.

Albanese insisted on Monday that the possibility of recovering human remains in Gaza was far from theoretical.

She pointing to the burial last month of 112 members of one extended civilian family whose remains were recovered from under Gaza City buildings destroyed by Israel in November 2023.

"The remains of 41 others killed in the same strike were never located," her statement said.

"It is vital that before decisions are made on displacement or crushing by the occupying army or its allies, the recovery and dignified identification of human remains, systematic documentation of sites and materials, preservation of potentially relevant evidence, and an unbroken chain of custody under independent oversight must take place," Albanese said.

The expert called for international criminal investigators to oversee the evidence gathering, and to warn countries and companies involved in any removal that they "could incur international criminal responsibility" if they destroyed evidence of international crimes.

"Destroying evidence of atrocity crimes is illegal," she stressed.

"It is unacceptable that the reconstruction of Gaza is conditioned upon the erasure of its past and the evidence required to secure justice for its victims."

Israel did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Albanese's statement.

The United States, a major ally of Israel, imposed sanctions on Albanese after she criticised Washington's policy on Gaza.

 

 

 

 


Lebanon Says 12 Killed in Strikes as Israel Vows to 'Remove Threats'

 Excavators operate as rescuers search for survivors following an Israeli airstrike targeting a building in the village of Kfar Rumman, southern Lebanon, 07 September 2026 EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
Excavators operate as rescuers search for survivors following an Israeli airstrike targeting a building in the village of Kfar Rumman, southern Lebanon, 07 September 2026 EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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Lebanon Says 12 Killed in Strikes as Israel Vows to 'Remove Threats'

 Excavators operate as rescuers search for survivors following an Israeli airstrike targeting a building in the village of Kfar Rumman, southern Lebanon, 07 September 2026 EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
Excavators operate as rescuers search for survivors following an Israeli airstrike targeting a building in the village of Kfar Rumman, southern Lebanon, 07 September 2026 EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

Israel conducted a wave of airstrikes in south Lebanon, killing 12 people including women and children according to the Lebanese health ministry on Monday, in an intensification of violence after a weeks-long lull.

Israel's military vowed to continue targeting Hezbollah after the overnight strikes. Eleven people, including two children and four women, died in one attack on a building in Kfar Rumman that killed 11 people, the ministry said.

A separate attack in the same town killed a rescuer and wounded another, the ministry said. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency had previously reported two wounded rescuers.

The strikes, which came despite a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, follow separate raids a day earlier that left 11 dead.

Israel has been intensifying strikes in the southern Nabatieh area after saying on Thursday that it had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah, a claim the Iran-backed group has not commented on.

The Israeli military in a statement said it had struck Hezbollah "infrastructure sites" across southern Lebanon after the launch of two explosive drones towards its troops, as well as "several terrorists" it said were transferring weapons.

The army said it "will continue to operate to remove threats while remaining committed to the ceasefire agreement".

Fighting in Lebanon, which erupted in March after Hezbollah targeted Israel in support of Iran, had decreased since a June memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran on the wider Middle East war and an Israel-Lebanon framework agreement later that month.

On Monday, Israel's foreign ministry accused Hezbollah of "repeated drone attacks" and "attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon".

The ministry said Hezbollah had violated the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel that includes disarmament of the group.

The rescuer who was killed was just 18 years old, according to his civil defense organization, which is affiliated with the Amal movement, a political ally of Hezbollah.

An AFP photographer saw the building that was hit in Kfar Rumman had been destroyed, with school books and remnants of furniture strewn across the rubble.

Rescue teams were searching the debris on Monday morning for other victims.

Villagers had returned home following the June truce after being displaced by the war.

"Since we returned here, we've lived in fear," Fouad Chakaron told AFP.

He insisted the targeted building was inhabited by "peaceful people with no connection to anyone".

Neighbours fled after the strike, which also damaged nearby buildings, AFP's photographer said. The NNA later reported additional strikes on the Nabatieh area.

- 'I couldn't believe it' -

Israel issued no warning to Kfar Rumman before the strikes but released an evacuation order ahead of a separate attack in nearby Deir Zahrani.

The Israeli military said in an Arabic-language message that it was targeting a "Hezbollah terrorist facility", warning that those who remained in the area were at risk.

"They called me at 2 am and told me to get out of the house because it is being targeted," resident Abbas Toufeili told AFP, referring to the Israeli army.

"I said that's impossible, why is my house being targeted? There's nothing in it. I couldn't believe it."

He said he took his wife, children and elderly mother outside in their pyjamas and they stood on the street watching their house be destroyed.

On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed seven people. Attacks on Friday killed four.

The Israeli army has said it is responding to Hezbollah's launch of two drones towards its soldiers inside Lebanon, but did not specify whether any of its troops were wounded.

Hezbollah has not claimed any attack since June 20.

Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion of Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people since March, Beirut says.

Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared "security zone" around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.

On Sunday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks.