Cairo, 21 October 2023 (dpa/MIA) – UN Secretary General António Guterres on Saturday called for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip at an Egyptian-hosted international conference on the Middle East.

The "Cairo Summit for Peace" is taking place amid fears the ongoing fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement could devolve into a wider regional war.

Guterres listed three immediate goals: unhindered humanitarian assistance to besieged civilians in the Gaza Strip, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages kidnapped from Israel, and committed efforts to curb violence to prevent the conflict from escalating.

The conflict could only be solved with a two-state solution, one for Israelis and one for Palestinians, according to him.

"The time has come to act, act to end this terrible nightmare," Guterres added.

Head of the Arab League Ahmed Abul Gheit called the Israeli attacks on Gaza a "rabid war" and cited fears it could slide into a religious conflict.

He suggested a two-track approach for de-escalation: "First, reaching an immediate ceasefire; Second, opening an urgent safe corridor" to give Gaza access to aid.

In an opening address to the conference, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi said the aim of the meeting should be "reaching a roadmap to end the current humanitarian tragedy and revive the peace process."

He added that the summit is being held during "tough times testing our humanity."

Egypt, the the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, is worried about a mass exodus of Gazans into its territory.

"Egypt renews rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians and their exodus to the Egyptian territories because this would liquidate the Palestinian cause," al-Sissi said in an opening address at the meeting.

"Under no circumstances, will the liquidation of the Palestinian cause happen at Egypt's expense," he added.

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas lent his backing to al-Sissi's position.

"We won't accept displacement. We'll remain steadfast on our land whatever the challenges," he said at the conference.

"We won't leave. We won't leave. We won't leave. We'll stay in our land," he added.

Abbas also said he fully rejects the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians.

King Abdullah II of Jordan, whose country maintains diplomatic links with Israel, voiced "unequivocal rejection" of the forced displacement of Palestinians.

"This is a war crime according to international law, and a red line for all of us," he said.

The monarch also called for an "immediate end to the war on Gaza,"  protection of civilians, and adoption of a "unified position that indiscriminately condemns targeting of civilians."

The participants also included leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. Israel was not represented.

The conference opened shortly after the first trucks carrying humanitarian aid started to move through Egypt's only border crossing with the Gaza Strip.

Spain and France have called for a humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said a pause was necessary to protect the lives of the 200 Israelis being held captive by Hamas militants in Gaza as well as Gaza's Palestinian civilians.

Sánchez, whose country holds the rotating six-month EU presidency until the end of the year, spoke at an Egyptian-hosted Middle East peace summit in Cairo.

In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry welcomed the start of aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip and called for a ceasefire.

"This access must be permanent in order to meet all the humanitarian needs of the civilian population in Gaza," a ministry statement said of the aid convoys, adding: "We call for a humanitarian ceasefire."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock assured Israel of full solidarity in the fight against Hamas terror, but at the same time called on the international community to provide more support for the suffering population in the Gaza Strip.

"For Germany, the security of the state of Israel is non-negotiable," the Green politician said on Saturday at the summit in Cairo. "What is also clear is that the perpetrators of this terror do not speak for the Palestinian people. They speak only for themselves. They speak the language of terror."

World leaders and diplomats have rushed to the Middle East after the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, unleashed a large-scale terrorist attack on Israel, prompting retaliatory airstrikes on the heavily populated Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli bombardment came after hundreds of Hamas militants crossed the border from Gaza into Israel on October 7 in a surprise attack that targeted civilian communities and a music festival. 

Israel imposed a tight blockade on Gaza and stopped the entry of food, medicines and fuel, prompting dire warnings about the conditions faced by civilians in the impoverished territory.

Photo: MIA archive