Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty (R) meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at Tahrir palace in the centre of Cairo on September 18, 2024. (Credit: Evelyn Hockstein/AFP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Cairo on Wednesday to try to salvage efforts for a cease-fire in Gaza that have been further complicated by a wave of deadly blasts targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
On his 10th trip to the Middle East since the start of the war in Gaza nearly a year ago, Blinken met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and was expected to hold a press conference with Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
He is not scheduled to visit other Arab capitals or Israel.
According to the U.S. State Department, the objective of his visit was to address negotiation efforts with Egyptian officials.
U.S. officials said privately that they did not expect any breakthroughs at Wednesday's talks in Cairo, though Blinken would seek to keep up the pressure for a deal between Israel and Hamas.
"He'll be meeting with Egyptian officials about a number of things, but squarely on the agenda is how we get a proposal that we think would secure agreement from both parties," said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Tuesday.
Miller declined to "put a timetable on when we would put that proposal forward," saying Washington wanted "a proposal that's going to get a yes."
"It's very important that we ... stop the haggling back and forth."
U.S. sources say there are two key sticking points in the negotiations: the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border that Israel is refusing to withdraw from, and the details surrounding the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israel.
US military aid to Egypt
Blinken arrived in Cairo after hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded almost simultaneously across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and wounding 2,800 others, in blasts the Iran-backed militant group blamed on Israel.
Israel has not commented on the blasts, but the attack has widely been attributed to it.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Cairo rejects any attempts at escalation in the region and supports Lebanon following the pager blasts, the Egyptian presidency said on Wednesday.
At least 12 people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon on Tuesday.
"The President affirmed Egypt's rejection of attempts to escalate the conflict and expand its scope regionally, pointing out the need for all parties to act responsibly, and reaffirming Egypt's support for Lebanon," the statement added.
Blinken is visiting Egypt hoping to advance efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza and strengthen ties with Cairo.
Hours before the attack, it said it was broadening the aims of the war sparked by Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks to include its fight against Hezbollah.
In Cairo, Blinken is also expected to discuss strengthening U.S.-Egyptian relations.
Egypt is frequently accused of human rights abuses but remains a strategic U.S. partner, and last week Washington decided to release $1.3 billion of military aid without attaching rights conditions, unlike in 2023.
After Cairo, Blinken is due to head to Paris to brief his French, British and Italian counterparts.