By Manal Abdel Fattah
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received, at the Federal Palace, Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in the presence of Mr. Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Major General Abbas Kamel, Head of General Intelligence, Mr. Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and Ms. Elena Panova. United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt.
Counselor Ahmed Fahmy, the official spokesman for the Presidency of the Republic, stated that the meeting dealt with many international and regional issues, with a focus on developments in the situation in the Gaza Strip, where Mr. President reviewed the intensified efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire, exchange detainees, and implement sufficient humanitarian aid to relieve those afflicted in the Strip. Either by land, in coordination with the relevant UN agencies, or through air drops, especially for the northern areas of the Gaza Strip.
In this regard, the President appreciated the positions of the Secretary-General on the ongoing crisis, his keenness to adhere to the principles of international law and international humanitarian law, and his continued activity to urge the international community to take action to end the war and protect civilians, stressing the need for the Security Council to assume its responsibilities in that regard, and stressing the danger of cutting off some Countries support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which is considered collective punishment of innocent Palestinians.
For his part, the Secretary-General expressed his great appreciation for Egypt’s regional role as a pivotal pillar of stability, praising the Egyptian efforts to push for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and Egypt’s keenness to keep the Rafah land port open continuously over the past months since the beginning of the current crisis, noting his visit Yesterday to the crossing, he praised, in this context, the huge Egyptian effort he had seen to lead and manage the process of delivering aid to the people of Gaza, despite the severe obstacles and difficulties facing that process, reiterating the necessity of a ceasefire for humanitarian purposes so that aid can be entered and distributed effectively. On the people of the sector.
The official spokesman stated that the meeting witnessed a convergence of positions regarding the seriousness of the situation and the need to avoid fueling the factors that lead to the expansion of the scope of the conflict, as well as the complete and categorical rejection of the displacement of Palestinians from their lands, and the rejection and warning of any military operation in the Palestinian Rafah, with its disastrous consequences on the already deteriorating situation. The President and the Secretary-General of the United Nations also stressed the inevitability of the two-state solution as the only path to achieving justice, security and stability in the region and the necessity of creating appropriate conditions for its implementation.
