By Laith Al Junaidi
AMMAN, Jordan (AA) - King Abdullah II of Jordan will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday during his visit to the Egyptian capital of Cairo to discuss the latest developments in the Gaza Strip.
The king will also talk about the ways to achieve a cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave, which is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe after over two months of Israeli attacks, the Royal Hashemite Court said in a statement on X.
The visit comes shortly after a meeting between Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi on Tuesday in Cairo.
Egypt, along with Qatar, helped mediate a weeklong cease-fire in November in which Hamas freed over 100 hostages in exchange for Israel’s release of 240 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas and other groups are still holding about 129 captives.
Hamas has repeatedly rejected any talks on an exchange deal with Israel before a complete cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the besieged enclave.
Israel launched a massive military campaign on the Gaza Strip after a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 20,915 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 54,918 others, according to local health authorities.
The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.
Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio