Sisi inaugurates Cairo Peace Summit

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has inaugurated the 2023 Cairo Summit for Peace.

The activities of the summit kicked off on Saturday in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) as part of Egypt’s efforts to support the Palestinian cause.

The Summit is held at a call from President El Sisi and aims to discuss the future of the peace process, along with stopping the escalation in the Gaza Strip.

A number of world leaders who are taking part in the summit arrived at the venue of its convocation in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) earlier on Saturday.

The Summit also aims to address de-escalating the war in Gaza, pursue a ceasefire, and seek settlement of the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the two-state solution.

It is scheduled that 31 countries and three international organizations will take part in the Summit, in addition to the participation of Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres.

In his address, President Sisi said Egypt condemns, in the clearest terms, the targeting, killing and intimidation of all peaceful civilians.

At the same time, Egypt is expressing its deep shock that the world is standing by idly, while the catastrophic humanitarian crisis unfolds. Two and a half million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are being subjected to collective punishment. They are living under siege and facing starvation and ferocious pressure of forced displacement, through practices condemned by the civilized world that has concluded agreements and established the international law and humanitarian international law to criminalize and prohibit their recurrence, Sisi further mentioned.

“This compels us to restate our call to provide international protection for the Palestinian people and the innocent civilians.”

The Summit comes in conjunction with the opening of the Rafah border crossing to the Gaza Strip, allowing trucks carrying humanitarian aid and medical supplies, provided by multiple regional and international parties, for 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.