In joint op-ed, leaders of France, Egypt, Jordan call for ceasefire, hostage release
As truce talks continue in Cairo, Macron, Sissi and Abdullah warn Rafah offensive would ‘bring more death and suffering’, urge UNSC to push two-state solution
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
The leaders of France, Egypt, and Jordan joined together to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a path to a two-state solution, in a Monday op-ed in The Washington Post.
In the article, which was published as delegations from both Israel and Hamas were in Cairo for a round of ceasefire talks led by Qatar, Egypt and the US, the leaders did not condition a ceasefire on the release of hostages and did not mention the military defeat of Hamas. They did call for “the immediate release of all hostages,” however.
The deal currently under discussion would provide for the release of some 40 of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip in return for a temporary truce and the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, including some convicted of deadly attacks.
Jordan’s King Abdullah, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Egypt’s Abdel Fatah el-Sissi also warned against an offensive Rafah the southernmost Gaza city, saying it “would only bring more death and suffering, heighten the risks and consequences of mass displacement of the people of Gaza and threaten regional escalation.”
They contended that “famine is already setting in,” and called for a massive increase in humanitarian aid, arguing that Israel has not fulfilled its obligation to ensure the flow of supplies to Gaza.
Israel over the weekend began to roll out a series of steps to help ease the mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid the ongoing war, which the US called “progress” and a “good start.” Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which facilitates aid into Gaza, said it inspected 741 trucks that were transferred into the Strip over Sunday and Monday.
741 humanitarian aid trucks were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip over the last 2 days.
Only 267 aid trucks were distributed by @UN aid agencies inside Gaza (out of which 146 carried food).The aid is available, distribution is what matters. https://t.co/def8xdYUF1
— COGAT (@cogatonline) April 9, 2024
In the Washington Post op-ed, the leaders said the UN Security Council should push for a two-state solution, and “must play a role in decisively reopening this horizon for peace.”
The UNSC is set to decide this month on the Palestinians’ bid for full UN membership, though the campaign is unlikely to survive US veto.
Reflecting persistent Jordanian claims about Israeli violations of the religious status quo in Jerusalem, the leaders also emphasized “the necessity of respecting the historical and legal status quo at Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites and the role of the Jordanian Waqf under the Hashemite custodianship.”
The war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages amid horrific acts of brutality and sexual assault.
It is believed that 129 hostages abducted on October 7 remain in Gaza, not all of them alive.
