CAIRO, June 14 (Reuters) - Egypt's parliament will hold a final vote on a plan to hand over two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia later on Wednesday after a key parliamentary committee approved it, the committee chainman has said. Members of the defense and national security committee say they have approved the pact in a closed meeting on Wednesday, paving the way for the document to be ratified by the full house, a virtual foregone conclusion given that the 596-seat chamber is packed with government supporters. Sisi's government last year announced the maritime demarcation agreement with Saudi Arabia, which has given billions of dollars of aid to Egypt, ceding control of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and his administration see that the two islands originally belonged to Saudi Arabia and it is time to return them to their rightful owners, while opposers of the deal believe that the islands are Egyptian and giving them up will be sacrificing national soil for temporary interests.
The Egyptian parliament approves the transfer of two uninhabited Red Sea islands, Tiran Island and Sanafir Island, to Saudi Arabia.