France’s Macron meets Egypt leader for Gaza talks

France’s President Emmanuel Macron started talks dominated by the Gaza war on Sunday with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after arriving in Cairo.

On Monday, Macron, Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II will hold a summit as Israel renews its offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

On Tuesday, the French leader will head to the Egyptian port of El-Arish, near Gaza, to highlight the territory’s humanitarian plight.

Macron and Sisi held a dinner in a Cairo souk just after the French president arrived for the 48-hour visit.

Macron also took time for a private visit to the new Grand Egyptian Museum, to be officially inaugurated on July 3, that will show off 100,000 historic artefacts.

The two presidents will hold a more formal meeting on Monday morning before the summit with King Abdullah.

“The situation in Gaza will be widely discussed,” the French presidency said of the meetings stressing the importance of Egypt and Jordan in ending the war.

Egypt, along with Qatar and the United

States, has been a mediator between Israel and Hamas. The United States has meanwhile called on Jordan and Egypt to accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza.

Israel has pushed to seize Gazan territory since the March 18 collapse of a short-lived truce with Hamas, in what it has called a strategy to force the militants to free hostages still held in Gaza.

Simultaneously, Israel has escalated attacks on Lebanon and Syria.

The port of El-Arish, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the Gaza Strip, has been a key transit point for international aid arriving for Gaza.

Macron is to meet humanitarian and security workers there to demonstrate his “constant mobilisation in favour of a ceasefire”, his office said.

Most international aid went through the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt but this has been suspended by Israel since early March.

AFP