Egypt-US-Israel negotiations for reopening Rafah
Sunday (today for those who read, ed.)Egypt will host Israeli and US officials to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing. This was reported by Al-Qahera News, which has links to Egyptian intelligence and quotes an unidentified senior official according to whom Cairo is calling for “total Israeli withdrawal” from the terminal on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. “An Egyptian-American-Israeli meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday) in Cairo to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing,” the official said. The crossing has been closed since Israeli forces occupied the Palestinian side in early May, minimizing aid flows into the war-torn territory. Since then, Egypt and Israel have blamed each other for blocking humanitarian aid. Egyptian authorities have refused to coordinate with the Israelis, preferring to work with international or Palestinian bodies. After talks with U.S. President Joe Biden last month, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi agreed to temporarily divert U.N. aid to the Kerem Shalom crossing, near Rafah but on Gaza’s border with Israel. The official quoted by Al-Qahera said that Egypt was undertaking “intensive efforts” to “resume negotiations” for a truce “in light of the recent American proposal”, a reference to Biden’s proposal for a three-phase plan .
