CAIRO: Egypt will host Israeli and US officials on Sunday to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing, a vital conduit for aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, Egyptian state-linked media said.
Al-Qahera News quoted on Saturday a unidentified senior official as saying Cairo was demanding “a total Israeli withdrawal” from the terminal on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
“An Egyptian-American-Israeli meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday) in Cairo to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing,” the official said.
The crossing has been closed since Israeli forces seized its Palestinian side in early May, reducing aid flows into the war-torn territory to a trickle.
Since then, Egypt and Israel have blamed each other for the blocking of aid deliveries through Rafah. The Egyptian authorities have refused to coordinate with the Israelis, preferring to work with international or Palestinian bodies.
After talks with US President Joe Biden last month, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi agreed to temporarily divert UN aid to the Kerem Shalom crossing, near Rafah but on Gaza’s border with Israel.
Biden on Friday revealed a multi-phase plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip proposed by Israel, saying it was “time for this war to end.”
The official quoted by Al-Qahera said that Egypt was undertaking “intensive efforts” to “resume negotiations” for a truce “in light of the recent American proposition.”
Egypt to host talks with Israel, US over Rafah crossing
https://arab.news/6cn3w
Egypt to host talks with Israel, US over Rafah crossing
- Cairo was demanding “a total Israeli withdrawal” from the terminal on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt
US launches new retaliatory strikes against Daesh in Syria after deadly ambush
- CENTCOM said operation ordered by President Donald Trump
- Launched in response to the deadly Dec. 13 Daesh attack in Palmyra
WASHINGTON: The US has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Daesh in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two US soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.
The large-scale strikes, conducted by the US alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to US Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Daesh targets across Syria.
Saturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly Daesh attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.
“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” US Central Command said in a statement Saturday.
A day earlier, Syrian officials said their security forces had arrested the military leader of Daesh’s operations in the Levant.
The US military said Saturday’s strikes were carried out alongside partner forces without specifying which forces had taken part.
The Trump administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.
It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had Daesh infrastructure and weapons.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has for years been the US’s main partner in the fight against Daesh in Syria, but since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington has increasingly been coordinating with the central government in Damascus.
Syria recently joined the global coalition against Daesh.
