An Arab ministerial meeting began in Cairo, today, Thursday, in the presence of a senior Palestinian official, to discuss efforts to achieve a humanitarian truce in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a devastating Israeli war since last October 7, according to an official source.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid stated - in a post on the X platform - that the meeting includes Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi, and the UAE Minister of State. For International Cooperation Affairs, Reem Al-Hashemi, and Hussein Al-Sheikh, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The meeting will discuss efforts to stop the Israeli war on Gaza, the inevitability of achieving a ceasefire, and full access to aid, without further details.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is expected to meet later today, Thursday, following the meeting with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, the UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, and the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Sisi and Blinken

In a related development, Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo. The Egyptian President's office and the US State Department said that Sisi and Blinken reviewed the progress made in the negotiations.

Al-Sisi stressed “the necessity of an immediate ceasefire,” pointing to a humanitarian catastrophe that threatens the lives of civilians in Gaza. The Egyptian President warned of "the dangerous consequences of any military operation in the Palestinian city of Rafah."

Blinken arrived in Cairo - earlier today, Thursday - from Saudi Arabia, as part of his sixth tour in the region since the Gaza War, which he will conclude tomorrow, Friday, in Israel.

Blinken's tour in the region coincides with the launch of new negotiations sponsored by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States to help reach an agreement between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel that guarantees a ceasefire and the exchange of prisoners.

The Israeli war, which comes with strong American support, left tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, which led to Israel appearing, for the first time since 1948, before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing genocide.