Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II reiterated their opposition to any attempt to displace Palestinians from or within the Gaza Strip.
The two leaders, who called for an immediate ceasefire and a surge of humanitarian aid into the strip, met Wednesday at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo to discuss the war in Gaza, according to a statement from Egypt’s presidency.
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“The two leaders affirmed their complete rejection of all attempts to end the Palestinian cause or to displace the Palestinians outside their lands or internally displace them, stressing that the only solution that the international community must push towards its implementation is an immediate ceasefire and the entry into force of relief aid,” the Egyptian Presidency statement reads.
El-Sisi and Abdullah II also called for a “fair and comprehensive solution” to the conflict, including the creation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in their statement.
Israel urged more than a million Palestinians to evacuate from northern Gaza weeks ago at the start of its ground offensive. It has since begun military operations in southern Gaza, which is more densely populated than usual because of the original evacuation order. As of last week, 85% of Gaza residents had been forced to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.
Egypt, specifically, has played a large role in various diplomatic overtures attempted over the course of the war. It was actively involved in the first weeklong ceasefire agreed upon in November, the only cessation of fighting since the war began on Oct. 7, and Cairo recently offered a proposal to end the war permanently, though it is unclear how seriously both sides took the offer.
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That proposal calls for a two-week ceasefire during which Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller terrorist group also involved in the war, would release 40 to 50 hostages, mainly women, sick people, and elderly people, in exchange for about three times as many Palestinians from Israeli prisons. This is in line with the 3-for-1 ratio agreed upon in the first ceasefire last month.
Egypt and Qatar, which also participated in creating the proposal, would work with various Palestinian factions, Hamas included, to establish a temporary government of experts while they work toward presidential and parliamentary elections. Israeli leaders have said their goals of the war include removing Hamas from power, demilitarizing the terrorist group, and “deradicalizing” Palestinians, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently.
