Egyptian and French presidents call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza Strip

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, stressing the need to restore peace and provide humanitarian aid to people in the Mediterranean strip.

According to the announcement of the Egyptian President's Office, the two leaders delivered the above message during a phone call on April 5. In it, the Egyptian and French Presidents emphasized that the two-state solution is necessary to achieve lasting peace in the region.

The two leaders also discussed Egypt's efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and reviewed bilateral relations ahead of French President Macron's three-day visit to Egypt scheduled to begin on April 6.

According to the announcement, the possibility of holding a trilateral summit with the participation of Egypt, France and Jordan in Cairo on the occasion of Mr. Macron's visit this time was also considered.

On the same day, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty reaffirmed his country's stance that Egypt completely rejects Israel's attempt to destroy the integrity and unity of the Palestinian territory through the separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank.

According to a statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Mr. Abdelatty made these statements during a meeting in Cairo with a delegation of the Palestinian Fatah movement, led by the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the movement, Mr. Jibril Rajoub.

In another move related to the situation on the ground, Israel said it had deployed troops to a newly established security corridor across the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

According to the Israeli military, the 36th Israeli Division has been deployed in the "Morag Corridor" area. However, there is still no clear information about the number of soldiers deployed as well as the exact location of this corridor.

Morag is the name of a Jewish settlement that used to lie between the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, so the corridor would divide the two cities.

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Morag corridor is designed to put pressure on the Hamas Islamic Movement as well as separate the city of Rafah, located in southern Gaza, from the rest of the strip.