Gaza strains top agenda for Israeli PM's Egypt visit

CAIRO－The leaders of Egypt and Israel met on Monday as part of the first official trip to Egypt by an Israeli prime minister in more than a decade, and rising tensions in the Gaza Strip were at the top of their agenda.

The meeting between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett signaled a step forward in the relationship between the two nations.

Sisi and Bennett met in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, according to an official statement from the Egyptian presidency.

Egypt's state television showed the leaders sitting side by side in front of both national flags, with the Israeli army's chief of staff and Egypt's foreign minister and the head of its intelligence service also in attendance.

It was the first official visit by an Israeli premier since 2010, when Egypt's then-president Hosni Mubarak hosted a summit with Israeli former president Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and then-US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Sisi told state television that he and Bennett discussed maintaining the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, in addition to an Ethiopian dam on one of the Nile River's tributaries.

The Israeli premier, in a statement following the meeting, said he thanked Sisi for his country's role in stabilizing Gaza and its help with Israelis who have gone missing or been held captive during Israel's conflict with Hamas.

Egypt in 1979 was the first Arab country to reach a peace agreement with Israel, but only after the two countries fought four wars between 1948 and 1973.

The meeting is a boost for Bennett, who took office in June and is still trying to establish his foreign-policy credentials, according to The Associated Press.

Egypt has often served as a mediator between Hamas and Israel in the four wars they have fought, most recently in May, when it brokered a cease-fire that has largely brought the fighting to a stop.

Egypt has been trying to turn that into a long-term truce, but those efforts appear to have run into trouble in recent weeks. Hamas has demanded a lifting of the blockade, which has devastated Gaza's economy.

Agencies Via Xinhua