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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo/REUTERS
CAIRO – Israeli media sources reported that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi refused to accept a telephone call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The rejection was due to differences of opinion between the two parties amidst Israel's threat to carry out military operations in the region.
The Rafah area and the Philadelphia Corridor lie between Egypt and the besieged Gaza Strip.
In the report, Israel's Channel 13 quoted two “informed” sources as saying, “Netanyahu's National Security Council has asked Egypt to coordinate talks between the two officials, but to no avail.”
The channel noted that the last conversation between Al-Sisi and Netanyahu took place in June last year, following an operation carried out by Egyptian Central Security Forces member Mohamed Salah Ibrahim in the country's southern border area, when he killed three Israeli soldiers and wounded a fourth in a firefight.
Channel 13 said this comes amid escalating disputes with the Egyptian side regarding Israel's plans for the Philadelphia Corridor, an area along the Egypt-Gaza border. There has been no official comment on this report.
Meanwhile, dozens of civilians were killed and injured when Israeli colonial forces stepped up their attacks on Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday (25/1/2024).
Israeli attacks targeted the Nasser Medical Complex and a UNRWA school hosting thousands of Palestinian refugees, sparking international outrage.
Al-Jazeera reported that the central and western areas of Khan Yunis city were hit by heavy Israeli artillery attacks.