CAIRO, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh in Cairo to discuss the Gaza war and developments in the occupied West Bank, Egypt's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
At Tuesday's talks, Abdelatty condemned what he called Israel's "policy of starvation" and the "use of famine as a weapon" in Gaza. He said Egypt rejected the displacement of Palestinians, the expansion of Israeli military operations and what he described as "the continuation of genocide against the Palestinian people."
He also denounced Israeli settlement plans in the West Bank, including in the sensitive E1 area east of Jerusalem.
The two sides discussed coordination ahead of an international conference on the two-state solution, to be held later this month in New York alongside the UN General Assembly. Several countries, including France, Canada, Australia, Belgium, and Malta, have announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state. Portugal is considering the step, while Britain has said it will do so unless Israel ends the Gaza war and commits to peace talks.
The Gaza health authorities said on Wednesday that 63,746 Palestinians have been killed and 161,245 wounded in Israel's campaign in the enclave over the past 22 months. Large parts of Gaza's infrastructure have been destroyed, worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures. ■
