Al-Sisi and European leaders at the Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo on Sunday (French)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said that Egypt and European Union leaders agreed to reject any Israeli military operation in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, during an Egyptian-European summit that began on Sunday in Cairo.

The Egyptian presidency broadcast, through its YouTube account, the speeches of the participants in the summit, which is being held to raise the level of relations to a strategic and comprehensive partnership, and to discuss the file of the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

According to a statement by the Egyptian presidency, Al-Sisi stressed that “any military operations in the Palestinian city of Rafah will have serious repercussions on the security of the region as a whole,” and stressed “the need for the international community to assume its responsibilities in pushing for an immediate ceasefire and bringing aid in sufficient quantities into the Strip to protect it from... "The humanitarian catastrophe he is exposed to."

Before the start of the summit, Sisi received, at the Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, the President of the European Union Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Prime Minister of Belgium, President of the European Union, Alexander De Croo, according to a presidential statement.

Von der Leyen said that any military operation in Rafah, south of Gaza, should be avoided by all means, and called for a quick ceasefire agreement.

She told reporters after signing a strategic partnership agreement with Sisi, “It is important to reach a quick ceasefire agreement now, which will lead to the liberation of the hostages and allow more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.”

Six European leaders today in Cairo.

This shows how deeply we value our partnership with Egypt.

pic.twitter.com/fE4NFDGHRi

- Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 17, 2024

During the summit, the European Union signed agreements in Egypt worth 7.4 billion euros over 4 years in several areas, including loans, investments, and cooperation on immigration to Europe and combating terrorism, days after it concluded similar agreements with countries in North Africa.

A European official told Agence France-Presse that the agreements fall within the framework of a “strategic and comprehensive partnership” between the European Union and Egypt, explaining that they include “loans worth 5 billion euros, investments worth 1.8 billion euros, 400 million euros in aid for bilateral projects, and 200 million euros to support programs that address... Immigration issues.

It is noteworthy that many countries continued their warnings to Israel against launching a military operation in the Rafah area, where there are more than 1.4 million Palestinians, according to international reports, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued his adherence to launching the attack, considering it the key to declaring victory in the war.

Since the seventh of last October, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip adjacent to the Egyptian border, leaving tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure, which led to Tel Aviv appearing before the Court of Justice. International charges of genocide, for the first time since its founding.

Source: Agencies