Officials from Egypt, Israel and the United States are expected to hold a meeting in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the reopening of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza after a month since its closure.
Citing a high-level source, state-linked al-Qahera News TV reported Saturday that Egypt insists on Israel's complete withdrawal from the Palestinian side of the crossing.
"Egypt has confirmed to all parties its constant stance based on non-opening of the Rafah crossing so long as Israel keeps its control of its Palestinian side," the source said.
The level of representation at the reported meeting was not immediately clear.
On May 7, Israel took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, in an operation that halted aid deliveries via the vital facility into the heavily populated coastal strip.
Since the closure of the crossing, Egypt has indicated it will not coordinate aid transports through Rafah until the Israeli forces withdraw.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. But the ongoing military campaign in Gaza has inflamed anti-Israeli sentiment in the Arab world's most populous nation, putting their decades-old ties at risk.
Cairo is also concerned that an expansion of the Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, packed by refugees fleeing the fighting, could trigger a mass exodus into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that Israel presented the Palestinian resistance group Hamas with a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in the besieged Gaza Strip and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave.
Biden appealed to Hamas to accept the deal and urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stave off pressure from members of his governing coalition opposed to the plan.
Over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its onslaught nearly eight months ago. The majority of those killed have been women and children, with more than 82,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.
The Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack killed some 1,200 people.
Vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid Israel's crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war.
