Lerato Mbhiza
President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Saturday, attend the Cairo Summit for Peace at the invitation of His Excellency Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
The Summit will discuss the ongoing escalation of the conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip, the urgent need for humanitarian support and to make a call for the resumption of the peace process.
The war between Israel and Hamas rages on amid claims that an Israeli rocket struck a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza on Friday. This comes a week after an Israel air strike at a hospital in Gaza, resulted in the deaths of 500 people including women and children who had sought shelter at the health facility.
The summit is set to take place on Saturday in Egypt with 12 presidents from around the world expected to attend and to find lasting peaceful solutions to the war.
Ramaphosa said he was concerned by attacks on civilians, the resulting enormous loss of life, displacement of people and the humanitarian crisis that has engulfed the Gaza Strip.
So far, more than 5,000 people have been killed in both Israel and Gaza over the last two weeks, with thousands more injured.
Gaza is currently facing a humanitarian crisis after Israel cut off supplies including water, food and medicines to the area last week.
It’s hoped the Rafah border will open on Friday to allow aid into the strip.
South Africa has repeatedly called for the immediate cessation of hostilities, return of hostages and the urgent opening of humanitarian corridors.
While the United States of America President Joe Biden has declared his support for Israel and Ukraine and told Americans on Thursday night the country must deepen its support for Ukraine and Israel in the middle of two vastly different, unpredictable and bloody wars.
Acknowledging that “these conflicts can seem far away,” Biden insisted in a rare Oval Office address that they remain “vital for America’s national security” as he prepared to ask Congress for billions of dollars in military assistance for both countries.
“History has taught us when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction,” Biden said. “They keep going. And the cost and the threat to America and the world keep rising.”
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