President Abel Fattah El Sisi warned against the potential widening of the conflict after two drones crashed in Taba and Nuweiba on Friday morning, causing explosions and injuring six people, the spokesperson for the Egyptian Armed Forces said. The Israeli military blamed the incident on the Yemen-based Houthi movement, accusing it of launching the unmanned vehicles “with the intention of harming Israel.” The Egyptian military said the drones had been launched from the south of the Red Sea; the armed forces targeted one of them while it was still outside Egyptian airspace.

“I have warned of the expansion of the conflict, regardless of where [the expansion] comes from. The region will become a ticking time bomb that impacts us all,” El Sisi said at an event on Friday (watch, runtime: 15:57). “We are capable of protecting our homeland and we are making significant efforts to achieve de-escalation.”

This was the second border incident in less than a week: On Sunday, as many as nine Egyptian troops were injured when an Israeli tank accidentally shelled a border post. The IDF apologized for the incident and said they would investigate what happened.

UN BACKS CEASEFIRE-

World calls for immediate humanitarian truce: Israel and the US were left diplomatically isolated at the UN General Assembly on Friday after just 14 countries voted against a resolution brought by Jordan that called for an “immediate, durable” humanitarian truce. The final tally saw 121 countries vote in favor of the resolution and 44 abstain. Among them were close US and Israeli allies France, which voted in favor, and the UK, which abstained. The assembly rejected an amendment tabled by Canada to specifically condemn Hamas for the violence.

“Enough is enough”: “We can no longer bear what is happening to the Palestinians,” Egypt’s ambassador to the UN, Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek, said in his address to the assembly. “No to targeting civilians, no to terrorism, no to violating international humanitarian law, no to bombarding hospitals and medical centers … No to genocide — all people are equal.”

Remember: Jordan spearheaded the emergency session at the UN in a bid to break the impasse at the Security Council, where the US has twice voted down resolutions that would have called for an immediate ceasefire. Russia and Brazil have both put forward resolutions to bring an end to the fighting, though the US will only countenance a “pause” in the fighting and has insisted that the council recognize Israel’s right to self-defense.

Arab Leaders release joint statement following Cairo Peace Summit: The foreign ministers of the nine Arab countries that attended this month’s Cairo Peace Summit issued a joint statement condemning the targeting of civilians on both sides and the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza. It rejected self-defense as a justification for the “flagrant violations of international law” and called for an immediate ceasefire. Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Morocco all signed the statement.

Remember: The summit ended without a joint communique due to EU leaders’ insistence to condemn Hamas for the escalation. Egypt released a strong statement following the gathering calling out Western leaders’ “incomprehensible” refusal to condemn Israel’s attack on Gaza.

A diplomatic disaster for the West: “We were heavily criticized in [the Cairo peace summit]. It was as if all the outreach we have done over the last two years [to Arab nations] has been pissed up against the wall,” the Guardian quoted one EU source as saying.

Plenty of talks: El Sisi spoke this weekend with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry spoke to his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

ON THE GROUND-

Israel plunged Gaza into a communications blackout on Friday as it stepped up its bombardment, raising fears among rights groups that the IDF could use it as cover for committing mass atrocities. All phone and internet connections were severed, making communication with the outside world impossible, and preventing ambulances and aid relief teams from coordinating.

Egyptian companies are helping out:Orange, Etisalat, and Vodafone are all preparing to send mobile stations to the Gaza border to try to boost connectivity in the strip.

Musk to offer Starlink to help aid effort: Elon Musk will make Starlink’s satellite internet services available to “internationally-recognized aid organizations” in Gaza, he said on X (formerly known as Twitter) yesterday.

Cue a predictably furious response:Israel’s communications minister said his office will “cut any ties” with Starlink if it is made available in Gaza. “Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight this,” he wrote on X.

Death toll: More than 8k Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli airstrikes, half of whom are children, the Gaza Health Ministry told AFP.Israel’s indiscriminate air campaign has also damaged 178k residential buildings, while more than 260 healthcare facilities and 42 UN buildings have been hit, according to figures released by the Palestinian Health Ministry earlier yesterday.

US dismisses Gaza death toll after Health Min publishes list of names:Gazan health authorities on Friday published the names of more than 6.7k people killed by Israel after US president Joe Biden sought to discredit the figures released by the Health Ministry. Following the release, White House spokesperson John Kirby again expressed doubt about the figures, telling reporters that “we can’t take anything coming out of Hamas, including the so-called Ministry of Health, at face value.”

AID-

Just 84 trucks have made it from Egypt into Gaza since the conflict began on 7 October, the Palestinian Red Crescent said yesterday. A sixth convoy of 10 trucks crossed into the besieged enclave yesterday carrying food, water and medical supplies, but no fuel. Israel is preventing fuel from entering the strip, driving hospitals to collapse and preventing bakeries and the desalination plant from operating, exacerbating food and water shortages.

Israel obstructing aid entry, says Egypt: The humanitarian relief effort is facing “major logistical problems” because of Israeli demands to search the cargo, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Trucks are having to travel 100km to the Nitsana crossing on the Egypt-Israel border for inspection by Israeli officials, causing aid delivery to be “significantly delayed,” the ministry said.

And the bombing of Rafah isn’t stopping: Egyptian state broadcaster Al Qahera News reported on Friday that Israeli jets again bombed the Rafah crossing. This is the fifth time the border has been struck by the IDF.

Guterres follows up with El Sisi on aid:El Sisi discussed the relief efforts with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres over the phone yesterday, Ittihadiya said. The UN chief held talks with El Sisi in Cairo earlier this month and traveled to the Rafah crossing.

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