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Wednesday 15 September 2021

Naftali Bennett makes first visit to Egypt by an Israeli PM in a decade



Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is holding talks with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

It is the first official trip to Egypt by an Israeli premier for a decade.

The Egyptian presidency said the two leaders would discuss bilateral and regional issues, and ways to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Mr Bennett, who succeeded Benjamin Netanyahu in June, received an invitation to visit Egypt last month.

Mr Netanyahu was the last Israeli prime minister to make an official visit to Egypt in 2011, when he met Hosni Mubarak just over a month before he was ousted by a popular uprising.

He is reported to have also travelled secretly to Egypt in 2018 for unofficial talks with Mr Sisi, who led the military’s overthrow of Mubarak’s democratically elected successor in 2013 following mass protests.

Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but relations between the neighbours have often been cool.

Correspondents say tensions surrounding the Gaza Strip are likely to dominate the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Egypt has always played a major role in efforts to mediate between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the territory.

It brokered a ceasefire that ended an 11-day conflict in May, during which at least 260 people were killed in Gaza and 13 people were killed in Israel.

But its efforts to negotiate a long-term truce have been tested by a rise in cross-border violence in recent weeks.

The Israeli military said earlier on Monday it had struck Hamas militant targets in Gaza after rockets were fired at Israel for the third night in a row

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