By Nur Asena Erturk
ANKARA (AA) – Egypt is and has to be a key partner in efforts for a two-state solution in the Middle East, EU foreign policy chief said on Tuesday.
Josep Borrell, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi held a joint news conference following a meeting in Brussels.
"We appreciate the crucial role played by Egypt, in ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza, on providing health care to medical evacuees, on negotiating the humanitarian pause, and the release of hostages in November," Borrell said.
He noted that the EU aims to build a "coalition supportive to the relaunch of a political perspective for the two-state solution."
"And Egypt is and has to be a key partner in this regard," he said.
"Israel does not have the veto right to the self determination of the Palestinian people," he added.
Borrell stressed that Egypt is not a "strategic partner" but a "strategic actor" in the peace efforts in the Middle East.
- Egypt urges for immediate cease-fire
Foreign Minister Shoukry, for his part, urged for an "immediate cease-fire" in Gaza, describing the scale of the loss of life as "unacceptable" and "unprecedented."
"It is the responsibility of the international community … to deal with the ensuing cycle of violence, conflict, animosity that has played the region for 40 years and more, since the conflict erupted. It is time to resolve it. It is no longer the time to try to manage it, to try to postpone it," the minister stressed.
He added that the international community has the means, resources, and mechanisms to do so, "if the political will exists."
- EU commissioner praises Egypt for refugee assistance
EU commissioner Varhelyi praised Egypt's "hard work" in regional affairs.
"It's been with us since the Syrian war. And Egypt is a host of a very large refugee community. Something only a few are talking about," the commissioner added.
Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 25,490 Palestinians and injuring 63,354. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli onslaught has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.