By Manal Abdel Fattah
Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesman and director of the Public Diplomacy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Sameh Shukri, Minister of Foreign Affairs, received a phone call from Espen Barth Eide, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.
The official spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry explained that the two ministers discussed in detail the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, and the moves aimed at fully implementing Security Council Resolution 2720 regarding facilitating, coordinating and monitoring the process of bringing humanitarian aid into the Strip. The two ministers emphasized continuing to provide the necessary support and facilities, as well as mobilizing… The necessary international support, in order to ensure the full and sustainable delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.
In this context, the two ministers touched on the work of the ad hoc liaison committee to coordinate international aid provided to the Palestinian people (AHLC), in light of the two countries’ membership in the committee, where it was agreed to intensify coordination and cooperation between Egypt and Norway in order to mobilize more international humanitarian support for the Gaza Strip.
In a related context, Minister Shoukry stressed Egypt’s firm commitment, since the beginning of the crisis, to continue political and diplomatic movements, and with important international parties, to remove the obstacles placed by the Israeli side in the process of entering aid, stressing the importance of providing full political support by the international community to the chief coordinator of the United Nations. For Humanitarian Affairs to succeed in its tasks assigned to it pursuant to the Security Council resolution to accelerate the sending of aid shipments to the Gaza Strip.
The two ministers agreed to continue consultation and coordination during the coming period to support efforts to contain the crisis and limit its humanitarian repercussions on the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.