Egypt Calls for ‘International Solidarity’ to Make COP27 a Success

 Egypt's ambassador to Berlin Khaled Galal presents the priorities of the Egyptian presidency for the COP27 climate summit. (Egypt’s Foreign Ministry)
Egypt's ambassador to Berlin Khaled Galal presents the priorities of the Egyptian presidency for the COP27 climate summit. (Egypt’s Foreign Ministry)
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Egypt Calls for ‘International Solidarity’ to Make COP27 a Success

 Egypt's ambassador to Berlin Khaled Galal presents the priorities of the Egyptian presidency for the COP27 climate summit. (Egypt’s Foreign Ministry)
Egypt's ambassador to Berlin Khaled Galal presents the priorities of the Egyptian presidency for the COP27 climate summit. (Egypt’s Foreign Ministry)

Egypt has called for “international solidarity” to make the upcoming 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) a success.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry underlined the need for the international community to assume its responsibilities towards the global food and climate change crises, which have become more relevant to maintaining international peace and security.

He affirmed that the success of COP27 requires concerted efforts from all parties to raise ambition in the various components of climate action and sustain its financing.

Meanwhile, Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said Cairo welcomes the participation of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and all the leaders and heads of states and governments in the upcoming summit in response to the invitation of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Egypt will host the COP27 on Nov.6 till 18 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Rady said Egypt looks forward to Meloni’s major contribution as an extension of Italy's active role at the international level.

In this context, the White House announced in a statement on Saturday that US President Joe Biden will travel to Egypt to participate in the COP27 UN climate change summit on November 11 as part of his foreign tour to Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia.

“Biden would use COP27 to build on the significant work the United States has undertaken to advance the global climate fight and help the most vulnerable build resilience to climate impacts,” the statement read.

Separately, Egypt's ambassador to Berlin Khaled Galal took part in an expanded session organized by the German Foreign Ministry on COP 27.

According to a statement by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday, Galal touched on his country’s efforts to bridge the gap between the stances of industrialized countries, developing countries and different geographical groups on the priorities of climate action.

He underscored the burdens borne by the budgets of developing countries, especially African countries, to implement their nationally determined climate contributions and commitments to adapt and address losses and damages.

He also called for implementing the pledge to provide $100 billion annually in climate finance and facilitating access to international financing alternatives, in a way that enhances the ability of developing countries to link their development plans with the implementation of climate commitments.

Galal affirmed Sharm El-Sheikh’s readiness to host the summit and Egypt’s commitment to facilitating the participation of governmental and non-governmental parties concerned with international climate action in the event, in line with the UN rules and regulations.



Israeli Bombardment Kills 29 People in Gaza, Rockets Fired into Israel

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Bombardment Kills 29 People in Gaza, Rockets Fired into Israel

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 29 Palestinians on Friday, medics said, and sirens blared in southern Israel in response to renewed rocket fire from fighters in the Palestinian enclave.

The new rocket salvoes indicated that Hamas-led armed factions in Gaza are still able to fire projectiles into Israel despite a year-long Israeli aerial and ground offensive that has turned wide areas of the enclave into wasteland.

On Friday, the Israeli military said sirens sounded in southern Israel for the first time in around two months.

"Almost a year after Oct. 7, Hamas is still threatening our civilians with their terrorism and we will continue operating against them," it added, referring to the anniversary of Hamas' cross-border attack that touched off the Gaza war.

In Gaza City in north Gaza, Palestinian health officials said one Israeli aerial strike on a house killed at least seven people. Four people including two women and a baby were killed in the bombing of a home in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The rest were killed in airstrikes on several areas across the densely populated coastal enclave. Residents said Israeli forces operating in Gaza City's Zeitoun suburb and in Rafah, near the southern border with Egypt, blew up clusters of homes.

Israel's military says Hamas combatants use crowded, built-up residential neighborhoods as cover. Hamas denies this.

Israel media, reporting on the rocket fire, said one rocket was intercepted by air defense and another crashed in an open area. There were no reports of casualties or notable damage.

Palestinians in Gaza will mark the first anniversary of the war next week with little hope of an end to the fighting in the foreseeable future, even as Israel pursues a new ground incursion into Lebanon against Hamas' major Iranian-backed ally Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel almost a year ago in support of Hamas after the Palestinian movement staged the deadliest assault in Israel's history on Oct. 7, 2023.

The attack, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, ignited the war that has devastated Gaza, displacing most of its 2.3 million population and killing over 41,800 people, according to Gaza health authorities.

International diplomacy led by the United States has so far failed to clinch a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Hamas wants an agreement that ends the war while Israel says fighting can only end when Hamas is eradicated.