Saudi King Abdullah has decorated Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi with the Arab kingdom’s most prestigious medal amid Cairo’s refusal to reopen a key crossing for aid delivery to besieged Gazans.

The Saudi monarch decorated President Sisi with King Abdulaziz Necklace during a meeting in Jeddah on Sunday.

King Abdullah and the Egyptian president reportedly discussed the Israeli regime’s offensive against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Riyadh has been a staunch supporter of Egypt’s new government installed following the July 2013 military ouster of the democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi.

Egypt, which secured a second 72-hour truce in the Gaza war on Sunday, is ruled by former army chief, Sisi, who presided over a crackdown on supporters of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi following his ouster.

Despite international outcries, Cairo is keeping the Rafah border crossing closed. The 12-kilometer crossing links Egypt to the Gaza Strip, under crippling Israeli siege since 2007.

The Saudi regime has refused to explicitly criticize Israel following its deadly war on the Gaza Strip.

Over 1,940 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have so far been killed and nearly 10,000 others injured since Israel first launched its military assault against the Gaza Strip.

Latest tallies show that at least 450 Palestinian children have lost their lives in the Israeli attacks against the impoverished Palestinian strip. Children also make up almost one-third of the injured.

The Israeli army says around 65 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, but the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas puts the number at more than 150.