Egypt welcomes proposal by Moscow to hold Arab-Russian meeting over Gaza

By Ibrahim al-Khazen

ISTANBUL (AA) – Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Monday welcomed a proposal by Moscow to hold an Arab-Russian meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza amid Israel’s devastating onslaught on the Palestinian enclave.

Shoukry held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting of the BRICS group of major emerging economies in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.

The two diplomats discussed Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip and ways to settle the conflict there, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The discussions also dwelt on bilateral cooperation, the Russian-Ukrainian war and the conflict in Sudan.

According to the statement, Shoukry reviewed efforts by Egypt and Qatar to reach a cease-fire deal that allows a prisoner exchange and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The Egyptian minister welcomed a Russian proposal to hold a meeting at the level of foreign ministers between Russia and five Arab countries to discuss means of settling the conflict in Gaza. The statement, however, did not name these countries.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to agree on a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,100 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 84,700 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar