UPDATE - ‘People of Gaza must have safe, urgent access to humanitarian aid,’ say Turkish foreign minister, Egyptian president

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Ferdi Bayat

CAIRO, Egypt (AA) – The people of Gaza must have safe and urgent access to humanitarian aid, stressed the Turkish foreign minister and Egyptian president in a meeting on Saturday, said the Egypt Presidency in a statement.

Türkiye’s Hakan Fidan and Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip, said the presidency.

Fidan and Sisi “reached a consensus on the extreme danger of the current situation and its threat to the stability and security of the region, which requires intensifying international efforts to immediately end the violence, restore calm,” it added.

They also stressed the importance of preventing collective punishment for the people of Gaza such as “siege, famine or displacement,” said the presidency.

Fidan and Sisi also discussed the bilateral relations between Türkiye and Egypt and the Egyptian President expressed his satisfaction with the developments seen in bilateral relations within the framework of mutual respect and common interests.

Sisi drew attention to the importance of continuing to work to improve the relations between the two countries and take them to a new level in the future, to continue mutual steps to activate various bilateral cooperation mechanisms and to achieve concrete progress.

Fidan, on two-day official visit to Cairo at the invitation of his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, met Sisi on Saturday.

He is later expected to meet with Egyptian Foreign Minister Shukri and hold a joint press conference with his counterpart.

During his visit, Fidan also met with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who came to Egypt to address the current Mideast crisis.

His visit comes as hostilities between Palestinian group Hamas and Israel enter their second week, with the embattled Gaza Strip bordering northeast Egypt facing Israeli airstrikes, a cutoff of basic utilities, and an order for over 1 million residents to evacuate their homes in the north and go to the south.

Türkiye has so far sent three planes with humanitarian relief to an Egyptian airport in the hopes of sending them to neighboring Gaza.

The Mideast conflict has been a top issue in his talks in Egypt, along with bilateral ties and other regional issues.