Cairo

The head of the European Commission said on Friday a maritime aid corridor could start operating between Cyprus and Gaza this weekend, part of accelerating Western efforts to relieve the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, along with the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will visit Cairo on Sunday March 17, European Commission spokesperson Veerle Nuyts announced during a press briefing on Friday.

Egypt has secured an additional $5 billion in IMF loans, after the central bank hiked interest rates and allowed the pound to plunge by nearly 40 percent.

The Central Bank's decision to raise the key deposit rate to a record 27.25 percent caught the market by surprise.

The bank also committed to "allowing the exchange rate to be determined by market forces."

Envoys pushed on with efforts for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal in Cairo talks Wednesday, hoping to halt nearly five months of fighting with days to go before Ramadan.

U.S. President Joe Biden had urged Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan with Israel before the Muslim fasting month begins, which could be as early as Sunday depending on the sighting of the crescent moon.

International mediators were set for a fourth day of talks with Hamas in Cairo on Wednesday after U.S. President Joe Biden called on the militant group to agree a truce deal with Israel by the start of Ramadan.

International mediators and Hamas delegates were in Cairo Tuesday for talks to try to secure a pause in the war in Gaza ahead of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Mediators and Hamas envoys have made "significant progress" towards a Gaza truce, Egyptian state-linked TV reported Monday as the talks in Cairo entered a second day.

After weeks of diplomatic efforts, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been scrambling to lock in a proposed six-week truce in the war between Israel and Hamas before Ramadan starts next week.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris urged an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, upping the pressure on key ally Israel as heavy fighting raged in the Palestinian territory.

Harris's comments on Sunday, the most forceful to date by a U.S. administration official, came as Washington led a push to lock in a truce before Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month that begins in around one week.

Delegations from Hamas, Qatar and the United States have arrived in Egypt "to resume a new round of negotiations" for a truce in the Gaza war, state-linked Al-Qahera News reported Sunday.
A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that a ceasefire in Gaza may be secured "within 24 to 48 hours" if Israel accepts the Palestinian group's demands in ongoing talks.

Ask almost any European official specializing in security matters what keeps them up at night, and they'll probably answer "Egypt." The crisis in the Middle East is most certainly threatening the stability of what is the most important country in the Arab world right now and everyone knows that if Egypt falls, the crisis this would spark would reverberate far beyond Greece or Italy, all the way