There is no alternative to the path of negotiation to resolve the crisis in the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s Al-Qahera News quoted an unnamed senior official as saying on Wednesday.
The official referred to Egypt’s peacemaking role in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict as “indispensable.”
“In case of the absence of Egypt’s mediation, the severity of the crisis may increase and worsen beyond the estimates of all parties,” he was quoted as saying.
Cairo has been a key mediator in the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel that erupted on Oct. 7, after Hamas launched attacks on southern Israeli towns that killed about 1,200.
The Israeli retaliatory escalation in Gaza has so far killed more than 22,300 Palestinians and injured around 57,300 others, said Gaza’s Health Ministry earlier on Wednesday.
Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, mediated a week-long ceasefire in Gaza that ended in late November, which included a swap between Palestinian prisoners held in Israel and Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, and more delivery of aid trucks to the besieged enclave.
After signing a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, Egypt has been an active mediator in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ■
