Egypt Says Committed to Supporting Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council

A handout picture released by the Egyptian Presidency's official Facebook page on June 11, 2022 shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) posing for a picture with Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, ahead of their meeting in the capital Cairo. (Egyptian Presidency/AFP)
A handout picture released by the Egyptian Presidency's official Facebook page on June 11, 2022 shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) posing for a picture with Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, ahead of their meeting in the capital Cairo. (Egyptian Presidency/AFP)
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Egypt Says Committed to Supporting Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council

A handout picture released by the Egyptian Presidency's official Facebook page on June 11, 2022 shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) posing for a picture with Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, ahead of their meeting in the capital Cairo. (Egyptian Presidency/AFP)
A handout picture released by the Egyptian Presidency's official Facebook page on June 11, 2022 shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) posing for a picture with Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, ahead of their meeting in the capital Cairo. (Egyptian Presidency/AFP)

Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) Dr. Rashad al-Alimi held talks in Cairo on Saturday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Egypt is the third stop of his tour of the region.

Talks with Sisi covered security in the southern Red Sea region, with the president underscoring his country's commitment to supporting the PLC on all levels.

Yemeni politicians stressed the strategic importance of the visit given the joint security files between Egypt and Yemen, the historic relations between them and Cairo's political weight in the region and world.

Alimi noted that Egypt is a member of the Arab coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen.

Egypt is home to hundreds of thousands of Yemenis who fled their country in wake of the barbaric crackdown on the opposition by the Iran-backed Houthi militias, he added.

Addressing a joint press conference with Sisi, he said the militias want to take Yemen back to the time preceding that of the establishment of the national state. They want to take it back to a time when there was no equality, justice or the rule of law.

He added that talks with Sisi covered the latest efforts made by the PLC to improve living conditions in liberated Yemeni regions.

Discussions stressed that they will positively approach all United Nations peace efforts, in coordination with the Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Talks covered bolstering cooperation between Egypt and Yemen and taking advantage of Cairo's expertise in the services sector, including education, health and construction.

He revealed that memoranda of understanding will be signed between their countries in the near future.

For his part, Sisi said he supports the PLC in reaching a fair and sustainable political solution to the crisis that secures Yemen's peace and stability.

He underlined Egypt's backing of Yemen that stems back to the historic relations the countries share.

Egypt is committed to the establishment of a united and independent Yemeni state that will in turn ensure stability in the region and entire Arab world, he remarked.

It supports all efforts aimed at achieving peace in Yemen in line with the national dialogue outcomes, Gulf initiative, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and recent consultations that were held in Riyadh, Sisi went on to say.

He welcomed the extension of the nationwide UN-sponsored truce for another two months, praising the legitimate government for respecting its commitments in line with the ceasefire agreement.

He called on all parties to fully commit to the truce so that talks over comprehensive political solution can be kicked off in Yemen.

Moreover, he said talks stressed the need to intensify joint efforts to protect security and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, Mandeb Strait and Arabian Gulf.

Yemenis welcomed Alimi's visit to Egypt.

Media aide at the Yemeni embassy in Egypt, Baligh al-Makhlafi told Asharq Al-Awsat the visit paves the way for a new phase of cooperation between Egypt and Yemen.

The two countries enjoy strong relations and "we are looking forward for them to be strengthened in the coming phase," he added.

He reveled that several issues are on the table and they will be tackled when the joint higher committee convenes soon.

The committee meetings will have a major impact on boosting relations, especially in regards to Yemenis living in Egypt, whose number increased after the Houthi coup, he continued.

Political analyst Mahmoud al-Taher said the timing of Alimi's visit is significant because it will garner support for the PLC.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he predicted that Egypt will play a greater role in Yemen whether in times of peace or war.



Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas signaled on Wednesday that it was willing to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during the next phase of an ongoing ceasefire.  

Israel and Hamas are currently in the process of implementing phase one of the fragile truce, which has held since taking effect on January 19 despite accusations of violations on both sides.  

Israel's foreign minister said on Tuesday that talks would begin "this week" on the second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war.

"We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one batch during the second phase of the agreement, rather than in stages as in the current first phase," senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

He did not clarify how many hostages were currently being held by Hamas or other armed groups.  

Nunu said this step was meant "to confirm our seriousness and complete readiness to move forward in resolving this issue, as well as to continue steps towards cementing the ceasefire and achieving a sustainable truce".  

Under the ceasefire's first phase, 19 Israeli hostages have been released so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails in a series of Red Cross-mediated swaps.  

Wednesday's offer came after Israel and Hamas announced a deal for the return of all six remaining living hostages eligible for release under phase one in a single swap this weekend.  

Hamas also agreed on Tuesday to return the bodies of eight dead hostages in two groups this week and next.  

After the completion of the first phase, 58 hostages will remain in Gaza.  

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said on Wednesday that it would release the body of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz on Thursday. The group said Lifshitz was one of the hostages killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza.  

- 'Room to pressure Hamas' -  

Muhammad Shehada, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that after more than a year of devastating Israeli assault in Gaza, "Hamas wants to prevent the war resuming at any cost", albeit with some "red lines".  

"And one of those red lines is that they should continue to exist, basically, whereas (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's position is that they should dismantle themselves," he said.  

Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas's capacity to fight or govern, something the group has rejected.  

But the appearance that Washington is now in complete alignment with Netanyahu's government, as displayed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit this week, strengthened the Israeli premier's hand in negotiations, according to Michael Horowitz, an expert at the risk management consultancy Le Beck International.  

It gives Netanyahu "more room to pressure Hamas", Horowitz said, adding that US President Donald Trump "prefers that the agreement moves forward, but he's leaving the field open to Netanyahu... as long as the ceasefire is maintained".  

- 'Held onto hope' -

Among the bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday are those of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel, who have become national symbols in Israel of the hostages' ordeal.  

The boys' father Yarden Bibas was taken hostage separately on October 7, 2023, and was released alive during an earlier hostage-prisoner swap.  

While Hamas said Shiri Bibas and her boys were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed this, and many supporters remain unconvinced of their deaths, including members of the Bibas family.  

"I ask that no one eulogize my family just yet. We have held onto hope for 16 months, and we are not giving up now," the boys' aunt, Ofri Bibas, wrote on Facebook late Tuesday following Hamas's announcement.  

Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned on Thursday, although they have not officially named them.  

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has acted as go-between in the exchanges, called for a respectful handover of the hostages' remains.  

"We once again call for all releases to be conducted in a private and dignified manner, including when they tragically involve the deceased," it said.  

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, of whom 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.  

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.  

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.  

Since the war began, Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Gazans, some of whom have been released in previous rounds of hostage-prisoner exchanges.