CAIRO, 10 December 2021, (TON): Israel’s foreign minister arrived in Cairo on a diplomatic visit aimed at strengthening ties and shoring up a tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met with Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and the country’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, for talks that reflected budding ties between Egypt and Israel’s new government.

Egypt’s intelligence chief also participated in the meetings.

Egypt, the first Arab country to reach a peace agreement with Israel, has served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said “Lapid presented a plan to develop Gaza’s economy in return for assurances of quiet, and eventually disarmament, by Hamas.”

It said “the plan must address the issue of captives and missing persons.”

Lapid also discussed Israeli efforts to strengthen the rival Palestinian Authority, whose forces were toppled by Hamas in 2007. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas governs only limited autonomous areas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.