Egypt's President Meets with Visiting Indian Prime Minister to Strengthen Ties

FILE PHOTO: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi attends the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi attends the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS
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Egypt's President Meets with Visiting Indian Prime Minister to Strengthen Ties

FILE PHOTO: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi attends the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi attends the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt met Sunday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday, the second stop of a two-day trip that focused on elevating ties between the two counties.

Egypt and India share deep ties that date back to the 1950s, when the two nations played key roles in founding the Non-Aligned Movement, which had sought an alternative path to siding with either communism or capitalism at the height of the Cold War, The Associated Press said.

Modi, who arrived in Cairo Saturday, is the first Indian prime minister to pay a state visit to Egypt in more than two decades. His two-day stop came six months after Al-Sisi was in New Delhi as an official guest at India’s Independence Day.

Al-Sisi welcomed Modi Sunday morning at the presidential palace in Cairo. He awarded the visiting prime minister the Order of the Nile, Egypt’s highest state honor, according to Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for India’s External Affairs Ministry.

Modi’s trip to Egypt has focused on strengthening bilateral ties between Cairo and New Delhi. The prime minister said both countries have been moving swiftly to increase bilateral trade to $12 billion annually within five years —that’s up from $7.3 billion in 2021-22.

“This is a remarkable year for our shared relations,” Modi told a meeting with Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly on Saturday.

Earlier this year, both countries agreed to boost trade cooperation. India, the world’s most populous country, is one of the top five importers of Egyptian products, including crude oil and liquefied natural gas, salt, cotton, inorganic chemicals, and oilseeds. Major Indian exports to Egypt include cotton yarn, coffee, herbs, tobacco, lentils, vehicle parts, ships, boats, and electrical machinery.

Al-Sisi and Modi, who came to power in their counties in 2014, have in recent years cultivated closer relationships. And over the last 16 months, they resisted pressure from the West to condemn the Russian war in Ukraine. Both Egypt and India have decades-old ties with the Kremlin.

“There is a change in the global geopolitical and geoeconomic atmosphere wherein both countries wish to play a defining role,” India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said during a visit to Cairo in September. “Egypt’s geostrategic location acts as a connecting link between Africa, West Asia, the Mediterranean, and Europe and is also an important country from the Indo-Pacific point of view.”

Modi arrived in Cairo Saturday after a four-day trip to the United States, where he held talks with President Joe Biden and top administration officials, addressed the Congress and met with top American executives.

His meeting with Al-Sisi came as global attention focused on a brief rebellion by the head of Wagner Group, seen as the greatest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power.



UN Food Agency Says Its Food Stocks in Gaza Have Run out under Israel’s Blockade

A girl puts a pot to her head as Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)
A girl puts a pot to her head as Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)
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UN Food Agency Says Its Food Stocks in Gaza Have Run out under Israel’s Blockade

A girl puts a pot to her head as Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)
A girl puts a pot to her head as Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)

The World Food Program says its food stocks in the Gaza Strip have run out under Israel’s nearly 8-week-old blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory.

The WFP said in a statement that it delivered the last of its stocks to charity kitchens that it supports around Gaza. It said those kitchens are expected to run out of food in the coming days.

Some 80% of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million relies primarily on charity kitchens for food, because other sources have shut down under Israel’s blockade, according to the UN. The WFP has been supporting 47 kitchens that distribute 644,000 hot meals a day, WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told the Associated Press.

It was not immediately clear how many kitchens would still be operating in Gaza if those shut down. But Etefa said the WFP-backed kitchens are the major ones in Gaza.

Israel cut off entry of all food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza on March 2 and then resumed its bombardment and ground offensives two weeks later, shattering a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. It says the moves aim to pressure Hamas to release hostages it still holds. Rights groups have called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.

Israel has said Gaza has enough supplies after a surge of aid entered during the ceasefire and accuses Hamas of diverting aid for its purposes. Humanitarian workers deny there is significant diversion, saying the UN strictly monitors distribution. They say the aid flow during the ceasefire was barely enough to cover the immense needs from throughout the war when only a trickle of supplies got in.

With no new goods entering Gaza, many foods have disappeared from markets, including meat, eggs, fruits, dairy products and many vegetables. Prices for what remains have risen dramatically, becoming unaffordable for much of the population. Most families rely heavily on canned goods.

Malnutrition is already surging. The UN said it identified 3,700 children suffering from acute malnutrition in March, up 80% from the month before. At the same time, because of diminishing supplies, aid groups were only able to provide nutritional supplements to some 22,000 children in March, down 70% from February. The supplements are a crucial tool for averting malnutrition.

Almost all bakeries shut down weeks ago and the WFP stopped distribution of food basics to families for lack of supplies. With stocks of most ingredients depleted, charity kitchens generally can only serve meals of pasta or rice with little added.

World Central Kitchen -- a US charity that is one of the biggest in Gaza that doesn’t rely on the WFP -- said Thursday that its kitchens had run out of proteins. Instead, they make stews from canned vegetables. Because fuel is scarce, it dismantles wooden shipping pallets to burn in its stoves, it said. It also runs the only bakery still functioning in Gaza, producing 87,000 loaves of pita a day.

The WFP said 116,000 tons of food is ready to be brought into Gaza if Israel opens the borders, enough to feed 1 million people for four months.

Israel has leveled much of Gaza with its air and ground campaign, vowing to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. It has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

In the Oct. 7 attack, gunmen killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. They still hold 59 hostages after most were released in ceasefire deals.