Sisi, Guterres discuss Gaza developments in phone call

CAIRO – 9 May 2024: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al Sisi received a phone call from United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres on Thursday.

Spokesman for the Presidency, Ahmed Fahmy, said the President and the United Nations Secretary-General reviewed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip across all levels, including Egypt’s unyielding and persistent efforts to reach a ceasefire and a truce agreement in the sector.

They agreed that the current perilous circumstances require all concerted international efforts to ensure the success of the ongoing mediation endeavors, in order to achieve a breakthrough in this critical situation and avert an expansion of the cycle of the conflict.

These efforts shall also seek to ensure the immediate and full access for humanitarian relief and aid to all parts of the sector in a sustainable and unfettered manner, notably in light of the collapse of the humanitarian system and the threat of famine and epidemics haunting the people of Gaza.

The two sides also agreed that this necessitates the continuous and full support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which is assuming a primary and pivotal role in supporting the Palestinian people.

The call also included a warning against the dire and catastrophic consequences of the Israeli military operations in the Palestinian city of Rafah, which pose a serious impediment to the regular evacuation of the wounded and sick for treatment, and the entry of humanitarian aid and relief into the sector.

President Sisi and the UN Chief also affirmed the vital need to work toward ensuring the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination, by enforcing the recognition of an independent and sovereign Palestinian State, in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy, in order to prevent the exacerbation of the conflict and to establish stability and coexistence among the peoples of the region.