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Egypt, Cyprus Agree to Enhance Cooperation in Energy, Defense

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (EPA)
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (EPA)
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Egypt, Cyprus Agree to Enhance Cooperation in Energy, Defense

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (EPA)
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (EPA)

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides affirmed his country's endeavor to strengthen relations with Egypt in energy, tourism, and defense.

Christodoulides announced Tuesday plans to visit Cairo soon to meet his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, saying Egypt would be his second foreign trip after Greece.

Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus are in an expanded tripartite cooperation mechanism that includes the military and political fields and the coordination of interests in the eastern Mediterranean, which grew after natural gas discoveries in the East Mediterranean.

In an interview with al-Qahera News channel Tuesday, the Cypriot president said he looks forward to visiting Egypt to discuss several vital files related to bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to enhance them.

He affirmed that his country has a role in supporting European-Egyptian relations.

Christodoulides said that his upcoming meeting with Sisi would touch on regional and international issues, namely the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, which would allow for more rapprochement between Cairo and Nicosia.

The president added that he would come to Egypt with a comprehensive agenda on bilateral relations, energy files, and the East Mediterranean, noting that there are suitable energy reserves in the region, providing development opportunities.

The Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum was established on an Egyptian initiative, which was put forward during the Crete summit, between the leaders of Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece, in October 2018.

The forum's charter entered into force in March 2021 with the membership of the founders: Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Italy, and Jordan. Palestine and France joined it later, and the US entered as an observer. Representatives of the World Bank and the European Union also joined the forum.

The Cypriot president expressed his aspiration to establish the permanent secretariat of the tripartite mechanism that includes Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece.

Cyprus hosted the tripartite summit of the Tripartite Cooperation Mechanism three times, and since 2014, nine meetings have been held periodically.

Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece have exchanged visits on several political, economic, and military levels over the past years.

After a meeting of defense ministers last year, the three countries agreed to support cooperation in the defense and security fields to face challenges and support stability in East Mediterranean.

The Cypriot president praised the reform process in Egypt, appreciating efforts to restore Egypt's pioneering and pivotal role and the "unprecedented" reforms Sisi is carrying out for the benefit of the Egyptians.

Christodoulides was sworn in as President of Cyprus at the end of February after winning the presidential elections.

The Egyptian president called his Cypriot counterpart, congratulating him on winning the presidential elections.

He said in an official statement that the Egyptian-Cypriot friendship is based on shared values and mutual interests, relying on a rich and diverse legacy of human and civilization exchange.

The Egyptian president expressed his aspiration for the continued development and strengthening of the strategic partnership between the two countries in a way that serves the aspirations of the two peoples and contributes to achieving stability, security, development, and prosperity.

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Arab World

Hundreds of Thousands Flee as Israel Seizes Rafah in New Gaza 'Security Zone'

A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
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Hundreds of Thousands Flee as Israel Seizes Rafah in New Gaza 'Security Zone'

A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Hundreds of thousands of fleeing Gazans sought shelter on Thursday in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war, as Israeli forces advanced into the ruins of the city of Rafah, part of a newly announced "security zone" they intend to seize.

A day after declaring their intention to capture large swathes of the crowded enclave, Israeli force pushed into the city on Gaza's southern edge which had served as a last refuge for people fleeing other areas for much of the war, reported Reuters.

Gaza's health ministry reported at least 97 people killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, including at least 20 killed in an airstrike around dawn in Shejaia suburb of Gaza City.

Rafah "is gone, it is being wiped out," a father of seven among the hundreds of thousands who had fled from Rafah to neighboring Khan Younis, told Reuters via a chat app.

"They are knocking down what is left standing of houses and property," said the man who declined to be identified for fear of repercussions.

After a strike killed several people in Khan Younis, Adel Abu Fakher was checking the damage to his tent.

"Is anything left for us? There’s nothing left for us. We’re being killed while asleep," he said.

The assault to capture Rafah is a major escalation in the war, which Israel restarted last month after effectively abandoning a ceasefire in place since January.

GAZANS FEAR PERMANENT DEPOPULATION

Israel has not spelled out its longterm aims for the security zone its troops are now seizing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu said troops were taking an area he called the "Morag Axis", a reference to an abandoned former Israeli settlement once located between Rafah on Gaza's southern edge and the adjacent main southern city Khan Younis.

Gazans who had returned to homes in the ruins during the ceasefire have now been ordered to flee communities on the northern and southern edges of the strip.

They fear that Israel's intention is to depopulate those areas indefinitely, leaving many hundreds of thousands of people permanently homeless in one of the poorest and most crowded territories on earth. The security zone includes some of Gaza's last agricultural land and critical water infrastructure.

Since the first phase of the ceasefire expired at the start of March with no agreement to prolong it, Israel has imposed a total blockade on all goods reaching Gaza's 2.3 million residents, recreating what international organizations describe as a humanitarian catastrophe after weeks of relative calm.

Israel's stated goal since the start of the war has been the destruction of the Hamas group which ran Gaza for nearly two decades and led the attack on Israeli communities in October 2023 that precipitated the war.

But with no effort made to establish an alternative administration, Hamas-led police returned to the streets during the ceasefire. Fighters still hold 59 dead and living hostages which Israel says must be handed over to extend the truce; Hamas says it will free them only under a deal that ends the war.

Israeli leaders say they have been encouraged by signs of protest in Gaza against Hamas, with hundreds of people demonstrating in north Gaza's Beit Lahiya on Wednesday opposing the war and demanding Hamas quit power. Hamas calls the protesters collaborators and says Israel is behind them.

The war began with a Hamas attack on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023 with gunmen killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies. Israel's campaign has so far killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities say.

Rafah residents said most of the local population had followed Israel's order to leave, as Israeli strikes toppled buildings there. But a strike on the main road between Khan Younis and Rafah stopped most movement between the two cities.

Movement of people and traffic along the western coastal road near Morag was also limited by bombardment, said residents.

"Others stayed because they don't know where to go, or got fed up of being displaced several times. We are afraid they might be killed or at best detained," said Basem, a resident of Rafah who declined to give a second name.

Markets have emptied and prices for basic necessities have soared under Israel's total blockade of food, medicine and fuel.

The Palestinian Health Ministry, which is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank but has nominal authority over hospitals in Gaza, said Gaza's entire healthcare system was at risk of collapse.