Cairo, New York (Al-Ittihad)
Yesterday, the UN Security Council adopted an American draft resolution that supports the ceasefire plan in Gaza, at a time when Washington is leading an intense diplomatic campaign to push the Palestinian factions to accept the proposal, which includes three stages.
The text welcoming the truce proposal announced by US President Joe Biden on May 31 and calling on Israel and the factions to fully implement its conditions without delay and without conditions, received 14 votes, and Russia abstained from voting.
In another context, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stressed the importance of concerted international efforts to remove obstacles to the implementation of humanitarian aid, the necessity of ending the war on the Gaza Strip, preventing the expansion of the conflict, and moving forward in implementing the two-state solution.
This came during Sisi’s reception yesterday with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his accompanying delegation, according to Egyptian presidential spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.
The spokesman stated in a statement that the two sides reviewed the latest developments in the joint efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and exchange hostages and detainees, and it was agreed to intensify these efforts during the current stage. The meeting also witnessed a discussion of Egyptian efforts to implement humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
For his part, the US Secretary of State affirmed the US administration’s appreciation for the ongoing Egyptian efforts on the political and humanitarian tracks, and its keenness to continue joint work and coordination between the two countries to restore security and peace in the region.
The US Secretary of State arrived in Cairo yesterday morning, coming at the head of a delegation from Paris on a visit to Egypt at the beginning of a tour of the region.
A statement by US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, last Friday, said that Secretary Blinken will discuss, during his tour that includes Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Qatar, the necessity of reaching a ceasefire agreement that guarantees the release of all hostages, and will stress the importance of the factions accepting the proposal on the table, which It is almost identical to the proposal supported by Hamas last month.
In this context, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry affirmed Egypt’s rejection of all military actions and Israeli violations in the city of Rafah. The Egyptian Minister’s statements came in a meeting with his South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor, on the sidelines of the BRICS meetings in Russia.
In another context, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that more than half of the buildings in the Gaza Strip were destroyed.
The agency explained in a post on the “X” platform that the destruction witnessed in Gaza is indescribable, and stated that removing the rubble left by the Israeli attack will take years.
According to a statement by the government media office in Gaza on May 24, 87,000 homes were completely destroyed in Gaza, and 297,000 homes were damaged and became uninhabitable.
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