Israeli PM to Meet Sisi Soon, Says No Meeting will Be Held with Abbas

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (File photo: Reuters)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (File photo: Reuters)
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Israeli PM to Meet Sisi Soon, Says No Meeting will Be Held with Abbas

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (File photo: Reuters)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (File photo: Reuters)

The Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will travel this week to Sharm el-Sheikh to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, announced the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.

The visit is the first of its kind for an Israeli prime minister in more than ten years, days after the tripartite summit between Sisi, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Jordanian King Abdullah II.

Bennett will try to avoid progress on a political track with the Palestinians, while Sisi aims to pave the way for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

A senior Israeli official confirmed that Bennett would avoid discussing the Palestinian cause with Sisi and rather focus on security issues.

A spokesman for the Egyptian presidency, Ambassador Bassam Rady, told Radio Masr that the Egyptian-Jordanian-Palestinian summit reaffirmed the Egyptian-Jordanian support to the Palestinian cause.

"We have called on the international community and the international quartet to revive the peace process, under the new US administration and the new government in Israel," he added.

Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine agreed to keep communications channels at the level of foreign ministers and heads of security and intelligence services to reach a formula that will be activated during the coming period.

The Palestinians are working intensively with Egypt and Jordan to develop a plan that enjoys Arab and US support to launch a new political process in the region that leads to direct negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The coordination intensified and accelerated after the war on the Gaza Strip and the US administration's desire to find a comprehensive solution based on the two-state solution.

The Palestinians received important signals from Washington after Biden met with Bennett last weekend and announced his support for the two-state solution.

Abbas met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who granted the Palestinians several facilities.

During a Zoom conversation with officials of Jewish organizations in the US, Bennett said he intends to reduce tensions with the Palestinians despite the lack of "political breakthrough" with them.

The prime minister said that there has always been a dichotomy: either move towards a Palestinian state or do nothing.

"I think that in many areas it is possible to act to reduce the problem ... especially in the economic field. I believe that employment and living with dignity can improve the situation. Two parties can take measures to reduce tensions and improve daily life."

Asked about the meeting between Gantz and Abbas, Bennett said he did not intend to meet with the Palestinian President because he had filed a complaint against Israel before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

"I also do not want to create the illusion of something that will not happen because a disappointment can have negative consequences. We will not take drastic measures. We will freeze the construction and take measures to stabilize the area," he continued.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid confirmed there were no political talks with the Authority, adding that 90 percent of the contacts are done through security coordination.



Israel’s Army Says It Will Fire Air Force Reservists Who Condemned Gaza War

An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
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Israel’s Army Says It Will Fire Air Force Reservists Who Condemned Gaza War

An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)

Israel's military said Friday it will fire air force reservists who signed an open letter that condemns the war in Gaza for only serving political interests instead of bringing the hostages home.

In a statement to The Associated Press, an army official said there was no room for any individual, including reservists on active duty, “to exploit their military status while simultaneously participating in the fighting,” calling the letter a breach of trust between commanders and subordinates.

The army said it had decided that any active reservist who signed the letter will not be able to continue serving. It did not specify how many people that included or if the firings had begun.

Nearly 1,000 Israeli Air Force reservists and retirees signed the letter, published in Israeli media Thursday, demanding the immediate return of the hostages, even at the cost of ending the fighting.

The letter comes as Israel ramps up its offensive in Gaza, trying to pressure Hamas to agree to free hostages, 59 of whom are still being held, more than half of which are dead. Israel's imposed a blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle. It has pledged to seize large parts of the Palestinian territory and establish a new security corridor through it.

While the soldiers who signed the letter didn’t refuse to keep serving, it’s part of a growing number of Israeli soldiers speaking out against the 18-month conflict, some saying they saw or did things that crossed ethical lines.

“It’s completely illogical and irresponsible on behalf of the Israeli policy makers ... risking the lives of the hostages, risking the lives of more soldiers and risking lives of many, many more innocent Palestinians, while it had a very clear alternative,” Guy Poran, a retired Israeli Air Force pilot who spearhead the letter told The AP.

He said he's not aware of anyone who signed the letter being fired, and since it was published, it has gained dozens more signatures.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed the letter on Friday, saying it was written by a “small handful of weeds, operated by foreign-funded NGOs whose sole goal is to overthrow the right-wing government.” He said anyone who encourages refusal will be immediately dismissed.

Soldiers are required to steer clear of politics, and they rarely speak out against the army. After Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel quickly united behind the war launched against the group. Divisions here have grown as the war progresses, but most criticism has focused on the mounting number of soldiers killed and the failure to bring home hostages, not actions in Gaza.

The war in Gaza shows no signs of slowing.

Since Israel ended an eight-week ceasefire last month, it said it will push further into Gaza until Hamas releases the hostages. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire collapsed, according to the United Nations.

The Israeli military on Friday issued an urgent warning to residents in several neighborhoods in northern Gaza, calling on them to evacuate immediately. At least 26 people have been killed and more than 100 others wounded in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Palestinians lined up at a charity kitchen Friday in central Gaza said shortages of food, fuel and other essentials are worsening.

“There is no flour or gas or wood. Everything is expensive and there is no money," said Reem Oweis, a displaced woman from al-Mughraqa in south Gaza, waiting in line for a serving of rice, the only food available.

“I completely rely on charity kitchens. If those charity kitchens close, my children and I will die,” said another displace woman, Nema Faragallah.

Also this week, Brazil's Embassy in the West Bank said it had requested the immediate release of the body of a 17-year-old Palestinian prisoner who died in Israeli custody.

A representative from Brazil's office in Ramallah, told the AP it was helping the family speed up the process to bring Walid Ahmad's body home. Ahmad had a Brazilian passport.

According to an Israeli doctor who observed the autopsy, starvation was likely the primary cause of his death.

Ahmad had been held for six months without being charged. He was extremely malnourished and also showed signs of inflammation of the colon and scabies, said a report written by Dr. Daniel Solomon, who watched the autopsy, conducted by Israeli experts, at the request of the boy’s family.

Israel’s prison service said it operates according to the law and all prisoners are given basic rights.