Egypt called Tuesday for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, saying the conflict could escalate into a wider regional war if fighting was not halted in the narrow strip along the Mediterranean Sea.
“The time has come to end the ongoing war, and use wisdom, and uphold the language of peace and diplomacy,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a statement after a meeting at his summer palace in El Alamein with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Sisi said all parties should be alert to the “danger of a regionally expanding conflict” and the risk of a wider war would be “difficult to imagine.”
The Egyptian leader said a ceasefire in Gaza “must be a precursor to broader international recognition of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution, as this is a basic guarantor of stability in the region.”
During months of stalled talks on a ceasefire in the more than 10-month-old war, the United States has maintained its support for a two-state solution that calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently opposed it. Netanyahu has rejected it, saying it would endanger Israel's security.
Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, has been pushing for negotiations for a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas but has been unable to finalize one.
After meeting with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in Tel Aviv, Blinken said Monday evening that the Israeli leader had accepted a “brokered proposal” from America for a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
“Now it is incumbent on Hamas to do the same,” Blinken said, and then with the help of mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States, “come together and complete the process.” Blinken did not say whether the concerns raised by the militant group Hamas had been addressed.
This is Blinken’s ninth trip to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7. Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Hamas in Gaza have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to Hamas health officials, although the Israeli military says the death toll also includes thousands of Hamas members.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military announced that six hostage bodies had been found in Gaza.
The U.S. put forward a brokerage proposal at last week’s ceasefire talks in Doha. Negotiations are set to resume in Cairo this week. Blinken said even if Hamas accepts the deal, there are still “complex issues” that require “tough decisions by leaders.” He did not provide details.
“We never gave up,” Blinken said, when asked if time was running out for a deal. He held a 2½-hour face-to-face meeting with Netanyahu.
Some analysts are skeptical.
“I think there’s a lot of wishful thinking going on, and I think it’s because the stakes are so high now, because there’s the potential for this conflict to escalate beyond national borders,” Mirette Mabrouk, a senior fellow at The Middle East Institute, told VOA on Monday.
An Israeli government spokesman told reporters on Monday that Netanyahu “stands by the principle” that the Israel Defense Forces will maintain a physical presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, to prevent what they described as arms supplies to Hamas.
Earlier, Hamas accused Netanyahu of undermining the efforts of mediators. Sami Abu Zuhri, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, dismissed claims that signs of progress after two days of talks in Doha were “illusions.”
There is growing urgency to reach a deal amid fears of a wider regional escalation if Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, retaliate against Israel for the killing of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Israel has claimed responsibility for the Beirut attack, but not the one in Tehran, although it is widely believed to have carried it out. (about/after)
