Cairo, Washington Chewing Over Gaza Prisoner Swap

2/22/2024 5:09:00 AM

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) CAIRO, Feb 22 (KUNA) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday mulled over ongoing diplomatic efforts to put a prisoner swap between Palestinians and Israeli Occupation in place, leading up to a several-week truce.
This came during a meeting held between both sides on the sidelines of the meeting of G20 foreign ministers, held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a press statement.
Shurky and Blinken agreed to keep working together in the coming period to throw much weight behind mediation efforts exerted by Cairo in this regard, according to the statement.
During the meeting, the Egyptian foreign minister underlined that it is essential to reach a ceasefire as the optimum guarantee for stemming the tide of bloodshed, staving off de-escalation and entering into earnest dialogue about how the Palestinian cause should be tackled in the future.
Shukry, further, sounded the alarm about the perilous aftershocks of a looming offensive by Israeli occupation forces into the Palestinian city of Rafah.
He also restated Egypt's emphatic opposition to any plot to force Palestinians out of the besieged Gaza Strip, given the fact that this would practically culminate in "the liquidation of the Palestinian cause" and put neighboring countries' national security into jeopardy. (end)
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