UPDATE – Egypt, France elevate relations to strategic partnership

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK

By Ibrahim Khazen and Rania Abu Shamala

CAIRO / ISTANBUL (AA) – The leaders of Egypt and France signed a joint declaration on Monday to elevate bilateral relations to a strategic partnership.

The declaration was inked following talks in Cairo between President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

The Egyptian television showed Sisi shaking hands with Macron and exchanging a copy of the joint declaration.

Macron arrived in Cairo on Sunday for a three-day visit to Egypt for talks with Egyptian officials on bilateral ties and regional developments. His trip began with a tour of the Grand Egyptian Museum in western Cairo and a walk through its historic streets, especially the Khan el-Khalili bazaar.

A trilateral summit to discuss the situation in Gaza is scheduled for Monday between Sisi, Macron, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

The summit comes as the Israeli army escalated its attacks on the Palestinian territory, where more than 1,300 people have been killed and 3,400 others injured in airstrikes since March 18, despite a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

More than 50,700 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.