The government’s refugee audit dominated the talk shows last night

An audit of the number of refugees and the costs the state incurs to care for them was the main topic across last night’s talk shows. Cabinet spokesperson Mohamed El Homsani appeared on several programs last night, including Kelma Akhira where he told viewers that the measures are not aimed to increase the burden on “guests,” but rather to help rationalize resources, understand refugee needs, and facilitate the process of communications with donor agencies and countries. During an interview on Masa’a DMC, El Homsani said that the Interior Ministry has begun issuing automated cards to refugees for banking transactions. Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 18:55), Masa DMC (watch, runtime: 8:24), Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 4:29), and Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 8:01) all had the story.

Boycotts targeting refugees are “completely unacceptable and do not represent the opinion of the Egyptian masses,” El Homsani told Lamees El Hadidi during an interview on Kelma Akhira. El Homsani added that “Egypt embraces everyone and cannot boycott any citizen of a sister country, meaning all nationalities and not just Syrians,” (watch, runtime: 1:24 | 6:17). Over on El Hekaya, Amr Adib spoke out against those blaming refugees for the deteriorating economic conditions that Egypt has been experiencing for some time (watch, runtime: 3:05 | 1:26).

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met in Cairo yesterday for a summit to discuss the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Abbas’ visit to Cairo came alongside US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s tour of the region — his fifth since the war began — to de-escalate rising regional tensions, in addition to focusing on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and increasing the delivery of aid to the population, international relations professor Hamid Faris said on Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 5:53).

Not everyone is happy with Blinken: Lamees criticized Blinken’s failure to address the ceasefire in Gaza during his visits to Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or the UAE. Faris instead argued that Blinken’s statements have shifted to contain references to a ceasefire for the first time, likely a timely move as the US prepares for a presidential election this year. Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 4:29), Masa DMC (watch, runtime: 3:57), Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 5:33) and Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 4:09) all gave the story some airtime.

The International Court of Justice will hold hearings this week on South Africa’s case against Isreal alleging charges of genocide, the head of the mission for the UN’s International Council for Human Rights Haitham Abu Saeed told El Hekaya. El Hekaya (watch, runtime: 2:34) and Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 4:16) had the story.