The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt on Friday met their French counterpart in Paris, to discuss international efforts to end the war in Gaza and enable the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
The ministers took part in a meeting hosted by the French Foreign Ministry and organised by the Ministerial Committee assigned by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Gaza, the Jordan News Agency reported.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday Palestinians in Gaza are "enduring what may be the cruellest phase" of the war as Israel ramps up its military offensive.
"For nearly 80 days, Israel blocked the entry of life-saving international aid," he said. "The entire population of Gaza is facing the risk of famine.
"The Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction."
The Arab delegation, led by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, included Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi and Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, the Saudi Press Agency said.
Discussions focused on intensifying co-ordinated measures to halt violations committed by Israel against the Palestinian people, the agencies reported. The ministers also reviewed preparations for the coming high-level international conference on the two-state solution, which will be co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France and held at the UN headquarters in New York in June.
On Friday, UN member states were invited to a preparatory meeting in New York ahead of the international conference next month during which France may recognise Palestine, French diplomatic sources have said.
"The aim is to unite the international community around concrete proposals with the adoption of a final document that traces the road to the settlement of the Palestine question," a diplomat said.
Palestine, which holds observer status at the UN, has also been invited to Friday’s meeting. It remains unclear how involved Israel will be in the June 17-20 conference. The Israeli government rejects Palestinian statehood.
Israel resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, ending the ceasefire that began on January 19. Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Friday that at least 3,673 people had been killed in the territory since then, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,822, mostly civilians.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
