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Egypt, US Agree on Importance of Partnership to Regional Security

Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C-R) meets with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (C-L) in New York, New York, US, 19 September 2022. (EPA)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C-R) meets with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (C-L) in New York, New York, US, 19 September 2022. (EPA)
    Cairo, New York - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Egypt, US Agree on Importance of Partnership to Regional Security

Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C-R) meets with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (C-L) in New York, New York, US, 19 September 2022. (EPA)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C-R) meets with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (C-L) in New York, New York, US, 19 September 2022. (EPA)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s meeting with his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, reached consensus on the importance of the “strategic partnership” between Cairo and Washington as “a fundamental pillar of security and stability in the Middle East.”

The diplomats’ meeting is the first of its kind since the Biden administration decided to withhold foreign military aid to Egypt.

Tuesday’s meeting took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York and less than a week after the Biden administration decided to withhold $130 million of a $300 million portion of foreign military aid to Egypt.

The withholding of aid was linked to human rights criticism of Egypt, which it denied.

A statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that the meeting between Shoukry and Blinken “discussed various aspects of bilateral relations and regional and international developments of mutual interest.”

“Talks emphasized the importance of the strategic partnership between Egypt and the US as a fundamental pillar of security and stability in the Middle East,” said Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid.

Abu Zeid also highlighted the importance of exploring all possible ways to advance the strategic relationship between Cairo and Washington to broader horizons.

Egypt has received a large amount of US military aid since it became the first Arab country to conclude a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. The total value of direct US military aid to Egypt, which does not include arms sales, stood at about $1.17 billion in the 2021 fiscal year.

Shoukry and Blinken particularly focused on the situation in Libya, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian territories, Abu Zeid said, adding that they also discussed developments regarding Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam.

The top diplomats also talked about preparations for the upcoming international climate summit, COP27, which will be held in Egypt in November, Abu Zeid said.

The repercussions of the Ukrainian crisis on food security also figured high in the meeting, he added.

The State Department spokesperson said the meeting discussed the US-Egyptian partnership and cooperation on a range of issues, the mounting global consequences of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, and US support for Egypt as it responds to these challenges.

“The Secretary thanked the Foreign Minister for Egypt’s efforts to foster greater stability in the region, including supporting equal measures of security and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians,” read a State Department statement.

“They also discussed support for elections as soon as possible in Libya and the UN truce in Yemen, including through the resumption of flights between Cairo and Sanaa.”

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Israeli Military Changes Initial Account of Gaza Aid Worker Killings

Palestinians mourn medics, who came under Israeli fire while on a rescue mission, after their bodies were recovered, according to the Red Crescent, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 31, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians mourn medics, who came under Israeli fire while on a rescue mission, after their bodies were recovered, according to the Red Crescent, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 31, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israeli Military Changes Initial Account of Gaza Aid Worker Killings

Palestinians mourn medics, who came under Israeli fire while on a rescue mission, after their bodies were recovered, according to the Red Crescent, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 31, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians mourn medics, who came under Israeli fire while on a rescue mission, after their bodies were recovered, according to the Red Crescent, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 31, 2025. (Reuters)

The Israeli military has provided new details that changed its initial account of the killing of 15 emergency workers near the southern Gaza city of Rafah last month but said investigators were still examining the evidence.

The 15 paramedics and emergency responders were shot dead on March 23 and buried in a shallow grave where their bodies were found a week later by officials from the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Another man is still missing.

The military initially said soldiers had opened fire on vehicles that approached their position "suspiciously" in the dark without lights or markings. It said they killed nine fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were travelling in Palestinian Red Crescent vehicles.

But video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the dead men and published by the Palestinian Red Crescent showed emergency workers in their uniforms and clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks, with their lights on, being fired on by soldiers.

The only known survivor of the incident, Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic Munther Abed, also said he had seen soldiers opening fire on clearly marked emergency response vehicles.

An Israeli military official said late on Saturday the investigators were examining the video and conclusions were expected to be presented to army commanders on Sunday.

Israeli media briefed by the military reported that troops had identified at least six of the 15 dead as members of the groups. However, the official declined to provide any evidence or detail of how the identifications were made, saying he did not want to share classified information.

"According to our information, there were terrorists there but this investigation is not over," he told reporters at the briefing late on Saturday.

The UN and the Palestinian Red Cross have demanded an independent inquiry into the killing of the paramedics.

Red Crescent officials have said 17 paramedics and emergency workers from the Red Crescent, the Civil Emergency service and the UN had been dispatched to respond to reports of injuries from Israeli air strikes.

Apart from Abed, who was detained for several hours before being released, another worker is still missing.

OPENED FIRE

The military official said initial findings from the investigation showed troops had opened fire on a vehicle at around 4 a.m., killing two members of the Hamas internal security forces, and taking another prisoner, who the official said had admitted under interrogation to being in Hamas.

As time passed, several vehicles passed along the road until, at around 6 a.m., he said troops received word from aerial surveillance that a suspicious group of vehicles was approaching.

"They feel this is another incident like what happened at 4 a.m. and they opened fire," the official said.

He said aerial surveillance footage showed the troops were at some distance when they opened fire, and he denied reports that the troops handcuffed at least some of the paramedics and shot them at close range.

"It's not from close. They opened fire from afar," he said. "There's no mistreatment of the people there."

He said the soldiers had approached the group they had shot, identifying at least some of them as fighters. However, he did not explain what evidence had prompted the assessment.

"And in their eyes, they had an encounter with terrorists, that is a successful encounter with terrorists."

He said the troops had informed the UN of the incident on the same day and initially covered the bodies with camouflage netting until they could be recovered. UN officials did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

"There was no incident where the Israeli army tried to cover up. On the contrary, they called the UN immediately."

Later, when the UN did not immediately come to take the bodies, the soldiers covered them with sand to stop animals from getting at them, the official said.

He said the vehicles were pushed out of the way by a heavy engineering vehicle to clear the road but he could not explain why the vehicles were crushed by the engineering vehicle and then buried.