Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi pose for the media during a bilateral signature agreements ceremony at the Presidential palace in Ankara, Wednesday, September 4, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

The presidents of Türkiye and Egypt on Wednesday (September 4, 2024) found common ground on the war in Gaza as they continued to mend long-strained relations, emphasising the need for a permanent cease-fire and guaranteed delivery of humanitarian aid.

Türkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi spoke during the Egyptian leader’s first official visit to Ankara after years of tensions between the regional powers.

“Türkiye and Egypt have a common stance on the Palestinian issue,” Mr. Erdogan said after he and Mr. el-Sissi oversaw the signing of cooperation agreements. “The end of the genocide that has been going on for 11 months, the establishment of a permanent cease-fire as soon as possible, and the unhindered flow of humanitarian aid continue to be our priorities.”

In February, Mr. Erdogan made his first visit to Egypt in more than a decade after the countries agreed to repair ties and reappointed ambassadors. He said the countries wanted to boost bilateral trade to $15 billion in the coming years.

Relations between Egypt and Türkiye, a long-time backer of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group, soured a decade ago after the Egyptian military ousted President Mohammed Morsi, who hailed from the Brotherhood, amid mass protests against his divisive rule. Egypt also outlawed the group as a terrorist organisation.

In recent years, Ankara has stopped its criticism of Mr. el-Sissi’s government, aiming to improve strained relations with Egypt and other Arab nations while seeking investments during an economic downturn. In November 2022, Mr. Erdogan and Mr. el-Sissi were photographed shaking hands at the World Cup in Qatar.

The Egyptian foreign minister then travelled to Türkiye in 2023 to show solidarity after a deadly earthquake struck parts of southern Türkiye and Syria.

This is Mr. el-Sissi’s first visit to Türkiye since he was elected president in 2014, a year after he led the military’s overthrow of Morsi.

“We should work together to prevent humanitarian crises, especially by addressing regional issues together,” Mr. el-Sissi said. “We should work more intensively, especially with our brothers in Gaza and Palestine. In this context, both Türkiye and Egypt emphasised that an urgent cease-fire should be established as soon as possible.”

Mr. Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel’s military actions, accused Israel’s government of “condemning” the people of Gaza to hunger and thirst.

“Israel and its supporters are responsible for every innocent person who dies from hunger, thirst or lack of medicine,” he said.

He also told reporters that Türkiye wanted to cooperate with Egypt on natural gas and nuclear energy.

Mr. Erdogan welcomed Mr. el-Sissi at the steps of his airplane at the airport in Ankara, a gesture he rarely makes.

Mr. el-Sissi said on Facebook that his trip to Türkiye and Erdogan’s February visit to Cairo “mirror the joint will to start a new era of friendship and cooperation between Egypt and Türkiye.”

Egypt, together with Qatar and the United States, a key Israel ally, has been working for months to try and broker a cease-fire and the return of the remaining more than 100 hostages held by the Palestinian militant Hamas group. The negotiations have stalled following new Israeli demands.

Egypt opposes any Israeli presence along the Gaza side of its border, claiming it would threaten the decades-old peace treaty between the countries, a cornerstone of regional stability. Hamas had asked to have Türkiye added as a guarantor in the cease-fire talks, but the proposal was not accepted.

The war began with Hamas’ October 7 assault on Israel in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostages. The overall Palestinian death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 40,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Shanghai:

Shanghai Museum has pulled in crowds this summer for an exhibition of ancient Egyptian relics including cat statues and other feline imagery, which on Saturday nights allows up to 200 visitors to bring along their own four-legged friends.

Inspired by ancient Egyptians’ worship of Bastet, the goddess of protection – often depicted as a cat – the museum has given cats the chance to interact with part of the exhibition called “The Secrets of Saqqara”.

“Egyptian archaeological teams discovered a cat temple in Saqqara and unearthed many cat mummies and cat statues. So when we were planning the event, we had cats as a theme, and then came the idea for ‘Meow Night’,” said Shanghai Museum Deputy Director Li Feng.

The “Top of the Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Civilization Exhibition” began on July 19 and runs until Aug. 17, 2025, with “Meow Night” planned for at least 10 Saturdays. It has held six so far with tickets, including 200 bring-a-cat tickets, selling out each time.

Visitors bring their cats in carriers or pet strollers and can take them out only at designated areas, such as for a photo opportunity next to a statue of Bastet.

The cats are checked on entry to ensure up-to-date vaccinations and for signs of illness or stress. There are veterinarians onsite and rest areas for cats in case the stimulation from their night at the museum gets a bit much.

“It’s very special that you can bring a cat with you,” said visitor Qiu Jiakai who was attending “Meow Night” with one-year-old puss An Mao.

“I listened to the narrator’s introduction saying … many of today’s pet cats are related to the cats domesticated in ancient Egypt. So I thought I would have to bring my cat here to see its ancestors and the cat goddess,” she said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Three Arab Israeli tourists and two Egyptian hotel workers were injured after a fight broke out in the Egyptian town of Taba on the border with Israel on Friday (August 30, 2024), Egyptian security sources said.

The sources said a physical altercation erupted when an Arab Israeli tourist verbally insulted an Egyptian hotel employee, sparking a melee that involved other tourists and employees.

Egypt’s state-affiliated Al-Qahera News television channel said one of the Egyptian workers had sustained serious injuries. It also said the fight started after several tourists refused to pay for hotel services.

There have been occasional attacks on Israelis in Egypt since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7.

One day after the war broke out, two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide were shot dead by a policeman in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, marking the first such attack on Israelis in Egypt in decades.

Cairo, Egyot:

An Egyptian worker was killed Friday in a hotel fight that wounded three Arab-Israeli tourists and other workers in the Egyptian seaside town of Taba, a medical source told AFP.

The worker succumbed to his injuries “in an ambulance transporting him from Taba” on the border with Israel to Sharm al-Sheikh, 200 kilometres south, the source said, requesting anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Three other workers and three “Arab 48” tourists were also wounded, state-linked Egyptian media Al-Qahera News reported.

“Arab 48” is a term that refers to Palestinians and their descendants who remained in Israel following its creation in 1948.

Friday’s fight broke out between hotel staff and the tourists “who attempted to obtain services from the hotel without charge”, the channel reported.

Al-Qahera News, which is linked to state intelligence, reported security authorities were investigating the incident.

A high-level security source denied Israeli media reports describing the altercation as a “stabbing operation”.

The incident occurred in the Egyptian border town of Taba in South Sinai, which is a popular tourist destination for Israelis.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel and has for decades played a key role as a mediator between Israeli and Palestinian officials, including in the current war in the Gaza Strip.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Cairo:

Egypt is hosting delegations from Hamas, Israel, Qatar and the US in Cairo with the aim of reaching a “comprehensive truce” in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli delegation, which arrived in Cairo on Tuesday afternoon, included members of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and Shin Bet security agency, an Egyptian source who asked to remain anonymous told Xinhua news agency.

In a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the delegation to “continue to stand firm on the conditions necessary for the release of our hostages, continue to stand firm on the essential requirements to ensure Israel’s security.”

However, he noted that the ceasefire proposal, brokered by Egyptian and Qatari mediators and approved by Hamas on Monday, fell short of Israel’s essential requirements.

Egypt is “making every effort to reach a comprehensive truce,” state-affiliated Al-Qahera News quoted an unnamed high-ranking source as saying. The source added that Egypt was engaged in communication with various parties in order to contain the crisis.

The Israeli army on Tuesday launched a military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where more than 1 million internally displaced Palestinians have sought refuge since Israel’s offensive began on October 7 last year.

At least 20 people have been killed in Israel’s attacks on Rafah since Tuesday morning, Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on both Israel and Hamas to end the ongoing conflict.

“We are at a decisive moment for the Palestinian and Israeli people and for the fate of the entire region,” said the UN chief.

“An agreement between the government of Israel and the leadership of Hamas is essential to stop the unbearable suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and of the hostages and their families,” Guterres added.

Cairo, Doha and Washington mediated a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas that ended in late November 2023, which included a swap between Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages and more humanitarian aid delivery to Gaza.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A screenshot from a UGC video posted on Facebook on October 28, 2023, shows heavy black smoke billowing from charred vehicles following a collision on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road near Wadi al-Natrun that reportedly left at least 35 people dead and more than 50 people dead.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A passenger bus slammed into a parked vehicle on a foggy Saturday (October 28) morning on a highway linking the Egyptian capital, Cairo, and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least 32 people, authorities said.

The multi-car pileup, which set some vehicles ablaze, left at least 63 others injured, said the Health Ministry. Ambulances rushed to the scene of the crash on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road to transport the injured to nearby hospitals, it said.

Local media reported that the bus was on its way to Cairo when it hit the parked vehicle. Other cars slammed into the bus with some catching fire.

Footage circulating online showed many burned vehicles on the side of the road with firefighters extinguishing the fire. In one footage many vehicles were seen on fire with thick plumes of smoke billowing from them.

The state-run daily al-Ahram reported that 29 vehicles were part of the crash which took place at the town of Nubariya, about 160kms north of Cairo.

The Egyptian Meteorological Authority warned of heavy fog on highways a day earlier, according to local reports.

Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. The crashes and collisions are mostly caused by speeding, bad roads, or poor enforcement of traffic laws.

Cairo, Egypt:

At least 35 people were killed and more than 50 others injured Saturday in a “horrific collision” on an Egyptian highway involving a bus and several cars, state media reported.

Traffic accidents are common in Egypt where roads are often in bad repair and the highway code is frequently disregarded.

“A horrific collision on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road near Wadi al-Natrun led to the death of 35 people, at least 18 of whom burnt to death,” said Al-Ahram news website, indicating “at least 53 were injured”.

Images posted on social media showed an overturned lorry lying across the fast lane on charred tarmac.

Further on is at least one bus and a minibus, both largely destroyed by fire, as well as many cars, some still in flames.

Crowds of people can be seen standing by the road, gazing at the crash site as alongside queues of cars as thick black smoke spirals into the air.

Official figures say 7,000 people were killed in road accidents in 2021 in the Arab world’s most populous country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates stands for a photograph, during the Cairo Summit for Peace, with Charles Michel, President of the European Council, HE Nikos Christodoulides, President of Cyprus, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, Abdel Fattah El Sisi, President of Egypt , King Abdullah II, King of Jordan, Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestine, Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, President of Mauritania, Mohamed Al Menfi, Chairman of the Presidential Council of the State of Libya at the St. Regis, in Cairo, Egypt, October 21, 2023. UAE Presidential Court/ Abdulla Al Neyadi/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY
| Photo Credit: UAE PRESIDENTIAL COURT

Egypt and Jordan harshly criticised Israel over its actions in Gaza at a summit on Saturday, a sign that the two Western allies that made peace with Israel decades ago are losing patience with its two-week-old war against Hamas.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who hosted the summit, again rejected any talk of driving Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula and warned against the “liquidation of the Palestinian cause.” Jordan’s King Abdullah II called Israel’s siege and bombardment of Gaza “a war crime.”

The speeches reflected growing anger in the region, even among those with close ties to Israel who have often worked as mediators, as the war sparked by a massive Hamas attack enters a third week with casualties mounting and no end in sight.

Egypt is especially concerned about a massive influx of Palestinians crossing into its territory, something that it fears would, among other things, severely undermine hopes for a Palestinian state. Vague remarks by some Israeli politicians and military officials suggesting people leave Gaza have alarmed Israel’s neighbours, as have Israeli orders for Palestinian civilians to evacuate to the south, toward Egypt.

In his opening remarks, Mr. el-Sissi said Egypt vehemently rejected “the forced displacement of the Palestinians and their transfer to Egyptian lands in Sinai.”

“I want to state it clearly and unequivocally to the world that the liquidation of the Palestinian cause without a just solution is beyond the realm of possibility, and in any case, it will never happen at the expense of Egypt, absolutely not,” he said.

Jordan’s King delivered the same message, expressing his “unequivocal rejection” of any displacement of Palestinians. Jordan already hosts the largest number of displaced Palestinians from previous Mideast wars.

“This is a war crime according to international law, and a red line for all of us,” he told the summit.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the Palestinian Authority, a government exercising semi-autonomous control in the occupied West Bank, called for Israel to stop “its barbaric aggression” in Gaza. He also warned against attempts to push Palestinians out of the coastal territory.

“We will not leave, we will not leave, we will not leave, and we will remain in our land,” he told the summit.

Israel says it is determined to destroy Gaza’s Hamas rulers but has said little about its endgame.

On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant laid out a three-stage plan in which airstrikes and “maneuvering” — a presumed reference to a ground attack — would aim to root out Hamas before a period of lower intensity mop-up operations. Then, a new “security regime” would be created in Gaza along with “the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip,” Mr. Gallant said.

He did not say who would run Gaza after Hamas.

Meanwhile, Israel has ordered more than half of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate from north to south within the territory it has completely sealed off, effectively pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians toward the Egyptian border.

Amos Gilad, a former Israeli defense official, said Israel’s ambiguity on the matter is endangering crucial ties with Egypt. “I think a peace treaty with Egypt is highly important, highly crucial for the national security of Israel and Egypt and the whole structure of peace in the world,” he said.

Mr. Gilad said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to speak directly with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan, and say publicly that Palestinians will not be entering their countries.

Two senior Egyptian officials said relations with Israel have reached a boiling point.

They said Egypt has conveyed its frustration over Israeli comments about displacement to the United States, which brokered Camp David Accords in the 1970s. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Egypt worries that a mass exodus would risk bringing militants into Sinai, from where they might launch attacks on Israel, endangering the peace treaty.

Arab countries also fear a repeat of the mass exodus of Palestinians from what is now Israel before and during the 1948 war surrounding its creation, when some 700,000 fled or were driven out, an event Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or catastrophe. Those refugees and their descendants, who now number nearly 6 million, were never allowed to return.

At Saturday’s gathering, the anger extended beyond the fears of mass displacement.

Both leaders condemned Israel’s air campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 4,300 Palestinians, including many civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza. Israel says it is only striking Hamas targets and is abiding by international law.

The war was sparked by a wide-ranging Hamas incursion into southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which over 1,400 people were killed, the vast majority of them civilians.

Mr. Abdullah, who is among the closest Western allies in the region, accused Israel of “collective punishment of a besieged and helpless people.”

“It is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. It is a war crime,” he said.

He went on to accuse the international community of ignoring Palestinian suffering, saying it had sent a “loud and clear message” to the Arab world that “Palestinian lives matter less than Israeli ones.”

Cairo:

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid for war-torn and besieged Gaza started passing into the Rafah border crossing from Egypt Saturday, a security source and an Egyptian Red Crescent official told AFP.

Egyptian state television showed several trucks entering the gate on the 15th day of the war between Israel and Hamas, the militant movement which rules the Palestinian enclave of 2.4 million people.

Israel has been bombing Gaza since Hamas’ bloody surprise attack of October 7.

The Islamist group stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials, also taking more than 200 people hostage.

Israel has declared a total siege on Gaza and cut off supplies of water, electricity, fuel and food, creating chronic shortages.

Rafah is the only route into Gaza that is not controlled by Israel, which agreed to allow aid in from Egypt following a request from its top ally the United States.

Twenty trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, which is responsible for delivering aid from various UN agencies, entered the Egyptian terminal, an AFP correspondent said.

An AFP journalist on the Palestinian side of the crossing saw 36 empty trailers entering into the terminal and heading towards the Egyptian side, where they were to be loaded with the incoming aid.

Four ambulances, two UN vehicles and two Red Cross vehicles were also seen heading into the terminal.

Cargo planes and trucks have been bringing humanitarian aid to the Egyptian side of Rafah for days, but so far none has been delivered to Gaza.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday visited the Egyptian side of the crossing to oversee preparations for the aid delivery.

“These trucks are not just trucks, they are a lifeline,” he said. “They are the difference between life and death for so many people in Gaza.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Cairo:

Egypt’s president said Wednesday he would not allow any mass influx of refugees from Gaza, saying it would set a precedent for “the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan”.

After talks with visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi blamed Israel’s air strikes on the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt for the failure to get aid to the territory’s 2.4 million people.

“The displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt means the same displacement will take place for Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan,” President Sisi warned.

“Subsequently, the Palestinian state that we are talking about and that the world is talking about will become impossible to implement — because the land is there, but the people are not.”

President Sisi’s meeting with the German chancellor came as Gaza faced a 12th straight day of ferocious Israeli bombardment in retaliation for a shock cross-border attack launched by Hamas on October 7 that killed at least 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Nearly 3,500 people have been killed in Gaza, which is nearly out of electricity, food, water and fuel.

Pressure has mounted for aid to be allowed in through Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza, the only access to the besieged territory not controlled by Israel.

President Sisi said Egypt “did not close” the crossing, but that “developments on the ground and the repeated bombings by Israel of the Palestinian side of the crossing have prevented its operation”.

Hundreds of lorries carrying aid have been waiting for six days on the Egyptian side of the crossing, which Israeli aircraft has bombed four times.

Olaf Scholz told reporters Berlin and Cairo “are working together to get humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip as quickly as possible.”

The two men also warned against the threat of regional spillover, with the Egyptian president calling for “immediate international intervention” to put a stop to “dangerous military escalation that may get out of control”.

Mr Scholz reiterated that Germany sought to avoid a “conflagration in the Middle East” and warned Hezbollah and Iran “once again not to intervene in this conflict”.

Peace could ‘fall apart’

President Sisi said he could “call on the Egyptian people to come out and express their rejection” of the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, “and you would see millions of Egyptians” in the street — where protests have been banned for nearly a decade.

Shortly after, Egyptian media reported that thousands had demonstrated nationwide in solidarity with Gaza.

Cairo’s Al Azhar University — a leading institution in Sunni Islam — issued a call late on Tuesday for Muslims to “invest their wealth in supporting Palestine and its oppressed people”, urging them to “review their dependence on the arrogant West”.

In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel following the Camp David accords of the previous year.

Although public opposition to Israel remains widespread, both countries have maintained security collaboration and steady diplomatic ties.

That peace is at risk of disintegrating, Sisi said, if there is a mass exodus of Gazans to Egypt’s neighbouring Sinai Peninsula that would risk turning it into “a new base for terrorist operations against Israel”.

“Israel would have the right to defend itself and its national security, and therefore direct strikes on Egyptian lands,” he said.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas too has warned that the displacement of Gazans to Egypt would amount to a “second Nakba” — a reference to 1948 when more than 760,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their lands during the war that accompanied Israel’s creation.

Most of Gaza’s population are refugees from that exodus.

Egypt has repeatedly refused to accept what it calls the transfer of Israel’s responsibility as an occupying power, including to “provide for the safety of civilians” living under its occupation.

Dismissing comments by pundits about Sinai being a sparsely populated desert area, Sisi suggested Israel’s Negev Desert as an alternative refuge for Gazans.

“Palestinians could be moved there until Israel is finished with what it has declared is an operation to eliminate armed groups” from Gaza, the president said.

“And then it could return them if it wished,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)