Egypt hosts Israeli and Palestinian officials on Sunday (Mar 19) in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh in a US and Jordanian backed effort to calm a surge of violence in the West Bank ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

The five-way meeting follows a Feb 26 US-brokered summit in Jordan, the first of its kind in years, that secured Israeli and Palestinian pledges to de-escalate but was challenged by factions on both sides and failed to halt violence on the ground.

The meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh “aims to support dialogue between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to work to stop unilateral actions and escalation, and break the existing cycle of violence and achieve calm”, a statement from Egypt’s foreign ministry said.