U.S. President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza on Tuesday and agreed to remain in close coordination in the coming hours, the White House said.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi © Saudi Press Agency
U.S. President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza on Tuesday and agreed to remain in close coordination in the coming hours, the White House said.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Negotiators were trying on Tuesday to clinch agreement on the final details of a ceasefire in Gaza after marathon talks in Qatar, with the involved parties saying a deal was closer than ever. Both Egypt and the U.S. are mediators in the talks.
Democrat Biden, whose administration has been taking part alongside an envoy of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, has said a deal was close.
KEY QUOTE
"Both leaders committed to remain in close coordination directly and through their teams over the coming hours," the White House said in a statement after the call between Biden and Sisi.
"Both leaders emphasized the urgent need for a deal to be implemented," the White House added.
CONTEXT
The White House said the two leaders also discussed surging humanitarian aid in Gaza where Israel's military assault in the last 15 months has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry (Hamas), while also triggering accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.
The assault has also displaced nearly Gaza's entire 2.3 million population and caused a hunger crisis.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli allies.
Ceasefire talks have previously faced hurdles.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday laid out plans for the post-war management of Gaza, saying the outgoing Biden administration would hand over the roadmap to President-elect Donald Trump's team to pick up if a ceasefire deal is reached.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met with his Luxembourgish counterpart, Xavier Bettel, on Tuesday in Cairo to discuss strengthening bilateral relations, particularly in economic cooperation and regional security.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen said they fires a hypersonic ballistic missile targeting the Israeli defense ministry in Tel Aviv early on Tuesday and that the missile reached its target.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.