Cairo, Egypt – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani met on Friday to review “intensive efforts” towards a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, Cairo said.
Both Egypt and Qatar have played a major role in the regional and international response to the war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which Israeli officials say killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip and sent in ground troops. More than 11,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
In Cairo, Sisi and Sheikh Tamim “discussed the Israeli military escalation in the Gaza Strip, and the subsequent regional challenges that push the region in dangerous and uncalculated directions”, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.
“The two leaders discussed the best ways to protect innocent civilians in Gaza and to stop the bloodshed,” it added.
“They reviewed the intensive efforts aimed at achieving a ceasefire and sustaining the delivery of humanitarian aid in quantities that meet the needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Aid groups have warned of a humanitarian “catastrophe” in the narrow Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people, more than half of them internally displaced since the war broke out, according to the UN.
The Rafah border in southern Gaza, which connects it to Egypt, is the only crossing not controlled by Israel.
It has been used for aid deliveries and to allow some wounded Palestinians, foreigners and dual nationals out of Gaza.
The high-level meeting in Cairo comes ahead of Saturday’s summits in Saudi Arabia, where Arab and Muslim leaders are expected to press for an end to more than a month of fighting.
Israel has rejected calls for truce, demanding first that the estimated 239 hostages seized on October 7, who are thought to be held in Gaza, are released.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who is usually based in Qatar, on Thursday met with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel “for discussions on the current situation in the Gaza Strip”, the militant group said.
Both Egypt and Qatar had been involved in previous talks which led to the release, at the end of October, of two women kidnapped by Hamas during its attack on Israeli territory on October 7.
With the Rafah crossing, Egypt is historically a key mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.