This came during meetings the Egyptian minister held with members of the US Senate during his visit to Washington on Wednesday, according to separate statements from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry reported that, at the start of his visit to Washington, Abdel Aty met with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations.
During the meeting with Graham, the Egyptian Foreign Minister stressed "the need to reach a permanent ceasefire, given the worsening humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, the importance of ensuring the regular flow of humanitarian aid, and beginning the process of early recovery and reconstruction."
Hamas and Tel Aviv began a new round of direct negotiations in Doha on July 6, seeking a prisoner exchange and ceasefire agreement, mediated by Qatar and Egypt and supported by the United States. Last Thursday, Tel Aviv and its ally, Washington, announced the withdrawal of their national teams from Doha for consultations.
Hamas has repeatedly declared its willingness to release Israeli prisoners "in one batch" in exchange for an end to the war of extermination, the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from Gaza, and the release of Palestinian prisoners. However, Netanyahu has evaded the offer by proposing new conditions, including the disarmament of Palestinian factions, and is currently insisting on reoccupying Gaza.
With American support, Israel has been waging a genocidal war in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, involving killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt the operation.
The genocide left approximately 206,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 9,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that claimed the lives of many.
On another note, the Egyptian minister discussed with Lindsey Graham "Egypt's concerns regarding the Nile River issue and Egyptian water security," stressing "the rejection of unilateral measures that violate international law," and affirming that Egypt will take all measures guaranteed by international law to protect its water security, according to the Egyptian statement.
Abdel-Ati also discussed "Egypt's concerns regarding the Ethiopian dam with Senator Roger Wicker, Chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, and briefed the US senator on Egypt's position based on the need to adhere to the rules of international law regarding shared water resources," according to a third statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
The Egyptian minister stressed "the necessity of cooperation based on consensus and mutual benefit to achieve the interests of all Nile Basin countries," emphasizing "the rejection of unilateral measures that violate international law (Ethiopia filling the dam's reservoir and operating it without reaching an agreement with the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan)," and affirming that Egypt will take all measures guaranteed by international law to protect its water security, according to the same statement.
On July 15, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi expressed his country's appreciation for US President Donald Trump's "keenness" to reach a fair agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). At the time, during his meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Washington, Trump said that the United States was working to resolve the GERD issue "very quickly."
This July, during a meeting at the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly called on his Ethiopian counterpart, Abiy Ahmed, to conclude a document on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that would guarantee "no harm to Egypt," according to a statement from the Egyptian Cabinet.
For years, Cairo has been demanding that a legally binding tripartite agreement be reached first regarding the filling and operation of the dam, which began construction in 2011, particularly during droughts, to ensure the continued flow of their respective shares of Nile water.
Ethiopia, on the other hand, believes that there is no need to sign an agreement, and has repeatedly stated that it does not intend to harm the interests of any other country. This led to a three-year freeze in negotiations, before they resumed in 2023 and were frozen again in 2024.
