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Blinken, Shoukry Discuss Cooperation, Regional Issues

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (Reuters)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (Reuters)
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Blinken, Shoukry Discuss Cooperation, Regional Issues

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (Reuters)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (Reuters)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed on Wednesday the strong strategic partnership between both countries, in addition to a number of issues of common concern.

This came during the first phone call between the two officials since US President Joe Biden took office.

"The Secretary and the Foreign Minister highlighted the importance of the strong strategic partnership between the United States and Egypt, particularly in security and ongoing counterterrorism cooperation, and exchanged views on regional issues," State Department said in a statement.

Blinken also raised "concerns" over human rights situation in Egypt, which he emphasized would be central to the US-Egypt bilateral relationship.

According to the statement, he also raised the issue of Egypt’s potential procurement of Su-35 fighter aircraft from Russia.

Blinken and Shoukry further discussed supporting UN-facilitated peace negotiations in Libya, the Middle East Peace Process, and counterterrorism cooperation in the Sinai.

Earlier, a report by Russia Today claimed that Egypt has concluded a deal to buy Russian Su-35s jets, however, Cairo and Moscow made no statements in this regard.

R. Clarke Cooper, the State Department’s assistant secretary in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, warned Egypt in Nov. 2019 that if it purchases Russian fighter jets it risks American sanctions.

Cooper said the planned purchase of Russian jets puts Egypt “at risk of sanctions and it puts them at risk of loss of future acquisition.”

For his part, the Director of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, Dr. Gamal Abdel Gawad said he believes the US administration will handle the military and human rights matters separately.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat following the call between Blinken and Shoukry, Abdel Gawad affirmed that Egypt's ties to the US are linked through contacts between the Egyptian foreign ministry and the State Department.

"But mainly, Cairo's more stable relations with Washington are based on military cooperation between the two states," he added.

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Arab World

UN: Average of 47 Women and Girls Killed Daily During Gaza War

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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UN: Average of 47 Women and Girls Killed Daily During Gaza War

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

An average of at least 47 women and girls were killed each day during the war in Gaza, according to figures published by UN Women on Friday, and the agency warned that deaths have continued six months into a fragile ceasefire.

More than 38,000 women and girls were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and December 2025, according to the report by UN Women, an agency that focuses on gender equality.

"Women and girls accounted for a proportion of deaths far higher than those observed in previous ⁠conflicts in Gaza," ⁠Sofia Calltorp, the agency's humanitarian action head, told reporters in Geneva.

"They were individuals with lives and with dreams," she added, according to AFP.

The agency expressed concern that the killing of women and girls has continued since an October ceasefire, though it does not know exactly how many have died due to ⁠a lack of gender-aggregated data.

October's ceasefire halted two years of full-scale war but left Israeli troops in control of a depopulated zone that makes up well over half of Gaza, with Hamas in power in the remaining, narrow, coastal strip.

More than 750 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to local medics, while militants have killed four Israeli soldiers. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for ceasefire violations.

Israel says it aims to thwart attacks by Hamas and ⁠other militant factions.

UN ⁠children's agency UNICEF said on Friday that children continued to be killed and injured at an alarming rate in Gaza, with at least 214 reported dead in the last six months.

Around one million women and girls are displaced in Gaza, UN Women said.

"Extensive damage to infrastructure has made it almost impossible for women and girls in Gaza to access their basic needs like healthcare," said Calltorp.

World Health Organization figures show more than 500,000 women lack access to essential services including antenatal and postnatal care and management of sexually transmitted infections.

Arab World

Lebanon Says Israeli Strike in South Kills One Despite Truce

An Israeli helicopter fires a projectile, as it flies over Lebanon, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, as seen from Israel, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli helicopter fires a projectile, as it flies over Lebanon, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, as seen from Israel, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Says Israeli Strike in South Kills One Despite Truce

An Israeli helicopter fires a projectile, as it flies over Lebanon, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, as seen from Israel, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli helicopter fires a projectile, as it flies over Lebanon, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, as seen from Israel, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike on a motorcycle in the south killed one person on Friday, despite the start of a 10-day ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

The truce, announced by US President Donald Trump, went into force at midnight (Thursday 2100 GMT), seeking to end more than six weeks of war that has killed nearly 2,300 people in Lebanon and displaced more than a million.

"A motorcyclist was killed in the town of Kunin, in the Bint Jbeil district, after being targeted by an enemy drone," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.

Under the terms of the truce, Israel reserves the right to continue targeting Iran-backed group Hezbollah to prevent "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".

Israel also said it will maintain a 10-kilometer (six-mile) security zone along the border in southern Lebanon.

The ceasefire agreement makes no mention of an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the area between this security zone and the Litani River, located around 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Israel, had not yet been "cleared of terrorists and weapons", and that if diplomatic pressure did not achieve that goal, then military action could resume.

However, Trump said on his Truth Social network that "Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the USA. Enough is enough!!!"

After a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end the previous war between Hezbollah and Israel, the latter continued to bomb Lebanon, usually saying it was targeting Hezbollah.

Arab World

Israel Says Military Operation Against Hezbollah 'Still Not Complete'

A man next to an ambulance looks at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
A man next to an ambulance looks at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
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Israel Says Military Operation Against Hezbollah 'Still Not Complete'

A man next to an ambulance looks at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
A man next to an ambulance looks at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki

Israel's defense minister said on Friday that the campaign against Hezbollah was not yet complete, just hours after a 10-day ceasefire came into force in Lebanon.

He also warned that if the fighting resumed, displaced residents returning to the country's war-torn south would have to evacuate again.

"The ground maneuver into Lebanon and the strikes on Hezbollah have achieved many gains, but they are still not complete," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a broadcast statement.

There remained areas of the south that had not yet been cleared of Hezbollah militants, which would have to happen one way or another, he added.

"The area between the security zone and the Litani (River) line, which is currently under our control, has not yet been cleared of terrorists and weapons," Katz warned.

"This will have to be carried out either through diplomatic means or by continued IDF activity once the ceasefire ends."

As the truce took effect at midnight (2100 GMT), thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians began heading south, hoping to return to their homes.

But Katz said a fresh bout of fighting could force them to leave again.

"If the fighting resumes, those residents who return to the security zone will have to be evacuated to allow completion of the mission," AFP quoted him as saying.

According to details of the truce released by the US State Department, Israel reserves the right to continue targeting Hezbollah to prevent "planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks".

Israel, whose troops are occupying parts of southern Lebanon, has also said it will maintain a 10-kilometer (six-mile) security zone it has established along the border.

"The security zone has been cleared of militants and weapons, is empty of residents, and will continue to be cleared of terrorist infrastructure, including the destruction of homes in front-line villages that have effectively become terrorist outposts," Katz said.

The details of the truce also stipulate that Lebanon "with international support... will take meaningful steps to prevent Hezbollah" from undertaking any attacks against Israeli targets.