This file photo through the window of an airplane shows the Red Sea's Tiran (foreground) and the Sanafir (background) islands

Egypt's parliament approved a treaty ceding sovereignty over two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, House of Representatives Speaker Ali Abdelaal said on Wednesday.

The treaty must now be ratified by President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, a formality.

Sisi's government last year announced a 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 to the Gulf kingdom.

Source: Khaleej Times