Egypt’s Sisi meets US’ Blinken amid efforts to push for Gaza cease-fire

By Ibrahim al-Khazen

ISTANBUL (AA) – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi held talks in Cairo on Tuesday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to state media.

Al-Qahera News channel carried the news without providing any further details about the content of the talks.

Blinken arrived in the Egyptian capital early Tuesday in his second stop in his latest regional tour to push for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. He visited Saudi Arabia on Monday and is scheduled to visit Qatar, Israel and the West Bank as part of the tour.

At least 27,585 Palestinians have been killed and 66,978 others injured in a deadly offensive launched by Israel following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught, while all are food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and ⁠less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar