Sisi calls for cease-fire in Gaza, warns of ‘unprecedented conflict’

CAIRO (AA) – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has warned of an “unprecedented conflict” in the region, calling for international intervention to prevent it and urging collective efforts for cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, the presidency said in a statement.

This came during Sisi’s meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the Egyptian-EU Investment Conference in Cairo.

The meeting touched on “ways to confront the escalating regional challenges, particularly the developments in the Gaza Strip and their impact on regional security and stability.”

The Egyptian president emphasized “the necessity of concerted international efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire and the urgent access to humanitarian aid in Gaza to avert the humanitarian catastrophe facing the Palestinian people.”

He reiterated his country’s warning of “the expansion of the gravely escalating conflict and called on the international community to take serious and swift steps to prevent the region from sliding into a new and unprecedented cycle of conflict.”

According to the Egyptian statement, both sides agreed that achieving a comprehensive and just solution to the Palestinian issue “based on the two-state solution and in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions remains the optimal path to ensure sustainable stability in the region.”

For her part, von der Leyen affirmed that the conference underscored “the shared interests between the two sides and the European Union’s commitment to supporting Egypt’s development and economic reform path.”

Sisi’s remarks came at a time when tensions were rising along Lebanon’s border with Israel amid cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israeli forces as Tel Aviv presses ahead with its deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 37,800 people since early October last year.