SHARM EL SHEIKH: The US and Egyptian presidents are chairing a gathering of world leaders dubbed “the Summit for Peace” to support ending the two-year war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal.
Israel and Hamas have no direct contacts and are not expected to attend Monday’s summit. Israel has rejected any role in Gaza for the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, whose leader is coming.
Leaders from Turkiye, Jordan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, the United Nations and European Union also have all said they will attend.
The summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh comes on the same day that Hamas is to release its 20 remaining living Israeli hostages and Israel is to free hundreds of Palestinians from its prisons, crucial steps after a ceasefire began on Friday.
But major questions remain unanswered over what happens next, raising the risk of slide back into war.
So why are the world leaders meeting?
A new page
The two sides came under pressure from the United States, Arab countries and Turkiye to agree on the ceasefire’s first phase.
Israel and Hamas need international and regional technical and financial support to get through many complex issues.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s office said the summit aims to “end the war” in Gaza and “usher in a new page of peace and regional stability” in line with US President Donald Trump’s vision.
In March, Egypt proposed a postwar plan for Gaza that would allow its 2.3 million people to remain. At the time, that was a counterproposal to a Trump plan to depopulate the territory.
The two leaders co-chairing the international summit signals that they are working together on a path forward.
Directly tackling the remaining issues in depth is unlikely at the gathering, expected to last about two hours. El-Sisi and Trump are expected to issue a joint statement after it ends.
Under the first phase, Israeli troops pulled back from some parts of Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to return home from areas they were forced to evacuate. Aid groups are preparing to bring in large quantities of aid kept out of the territory for months.
Hostage and prisoner exchange: Logistical challenge
The negotiations will have to tackle the issues of disarming Hamas, creating a post-war government for Gaza and the extent of Israel’s withdrawal from the territory. Trump’s plan also stipulates that regional and international partners will work to develop the core of a new Palestinian security force.
Another major issue is raising funds for rebuilding Gaza. The World Bank, and Egypt’s postwar plan, estimate reconstruction and recovery needs in Gaza at $53 billion. Egypt plans to host a future reconstruction conference.
Who is missing?
Israel and Hamas.
The two primary parties to the conflict — staunch enemies who have little trust in each other and a number of failed negotiations behind them — are not attending.
Negotiations in Doha and in previous rounds were indirect, with Egypt and Qatar as meditators.
Iran, a main backer of Hamas, is not attending either.
Iran finds itself at one of its weakest moments since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian officials portrayed the ceasefire deal as a victory for Hamas but it underlined Iran’s waning influence in the region and revived concerns over possible renewed conflict with Israel as it still struggles to recover from the 12-day war in June.
A state function
The conference is likely to see world leaders praise Trump’s push for the ceasefire. For his part, El-Sisi is almost certainly relieved that Egypt has warded off plans to depopulate the Gaza Strip.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to attend. Turkiye, which hosted Hamas political leaders for years, played a key role in bringing about the ceasefire agreement. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are also expected.
King Abdullah of Jordan is among the expected attendees. His country, alongside Egypt, will train the new Palestinian security force.
Germany, one of Israel’s strongest international backers and top suppliers of military equipment, plans to be represented by Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He has expressed concern over Israel’s conduct of the war and its plan for a military takeover of Gaza. He plans on co-hosting the reconstruction of Gaza conference with Egypt.
Britain’s Prime Minister is Keir Starmer is among the leaders who plans to attend. He has said will pledge 20 million British pounds (27 million dollars) to help provide water and sanitation for Gaza and said Britain will host a three-day conference to coordinate plans for Gaza’s reconstruction and recovery.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, European Union President António Costa and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have also said they will be attending.
The venue
Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, has been host to many peace negotiations in the past decades.
Sharm el-Sheikh was briefly occupied by Israel for a year in 1956. After Israel withdrew, a United Nations peacekeeping force was stationed there until 1967, when Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the peacekeepers to leave, a move that precipitated the Six-Day War that year.
Sharm el-Sheikh and the rest of the Sinai Peninsula were returned to Egypt in 1982, following a 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
The town — now known for a luxury beach resort, dive sites and desert tours — also hosted many peace summits and rounds of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians under President Hosni Mubarak, ousted in 2011. Under El-Sisi, the city has also been hosted many international conferences Monday’s is it’s first peace summit under him.
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World leaders throw their weight behind the Gaza ceasefire deal
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World leaders throw their weight behind the Gaza ceasefire deal
- The summit in Sharm el Sheikh comes on the same day that Hamas is to release its 20 remaining living Israeli hostages and Israel is to free hundreds of Palestinians from its prisons, crucial steps after a ceasefire began on Friday
- Leaders from Turkiye, Jordan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, the United Nations and European Union also have all said they will attend
Israeli airstrike kills 1 and wounds 11 including students in southern Lebanon
SIDON: An Israeli airstrike on a car in southern Lebanon on Wednesday killed one person and wounded 11 including students aboard a nearby bus, the Health Ministry and state media said.
The strike in the village of Tiri came hours after an Israeli drone attack on the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon killed 13 people and wounded several others. The Tuesday night strike was the deadliest among scores of Israeli attacks since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war a year ago.
State-run National News Agency said a school bus with students happened to be passing near the car that was hit Wednesday morning. The bus driver and several students were wounded, the report said. The identity of the person who died in the car wasn’t immediately clear. The Israeli military did not comment Wednesday.
In the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, just outside the port city of Sidon, life appeared normal Wednesday but Lebanese authorities prevented journalists from entering.
At the scene of the strike, paramedics searched for human remains around a wall that was stained with blood. Several cars were burnt and broken glass and debris littered the ground.
On Tuesday night, the Israeli military said it struck a Hamas training compound that was being used to prepare an attack against Israel and its army. It added that the Israeli army would continue to act against Hamas wherever it operates.
Hamas condemned the attack and denied in a statement that the sports playground that was hit was its training compound.
Palestinian factions in Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps earlier this year began handing over their weapons to the Lebanese state. The government has said that it will also work on disarming Hezbollah but Hezbollah has rejected it as long as Israel continues to occupy several hills along the border and carries out almost daily strikes.
The US has recently increased pressure on Lebanon to work harder on disarming Hezbollah and canceled a planned trip to Washington this week by Lebanese army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.
A senior Lebanese army officer told The Associated Press that US officials were angered by an army statement on Sunday that blamed Israel for destabilizing Lebanon and blocking the Lebanese military deployment in south Lebanon. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon two months ago that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.
That war, the most recent of several conflicts involving Hezbollah over the past four decades, killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion worth of destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers.
The strike in the village of Tiri came hours after an Israeli drone attack on the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon killed 13 people and wounded several others. The Tuesday night strike was the deadliest among scores of Israeli attacks since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war a year ago.
State-run National News Agency said a school bus with students happened to be passing near the car that was hit Wednesday morning. The bus driver and several students were wounded, the report said. The identity of the person who died in the car wasn’t immediately clear. The Israeli military did not comment Wednesday.
In the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, just outside the port city of Sidon, life appeared normal Wednesday but Lebanese authorities prevented journalists from entering.
At the scene of the strike, paramedics searched for human remains around a wall that was stained with blood. Several cars were burnt and broken glass and debris littered the ground.
On Tuesday night, the Israeli military said it struck a Hamas training compound that was being used to prepare an attack against Israel and its army. It added that the Israeli army would continue to act against Hamas wherever it operates.
Hamas condemned the attack and denied in a statement that the sports playground that was hit was its training compound.
Palestinian factions in Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps earlier this year began handing over their weapons to the Lebanese state. The government has said that it will also work on disarming Hezbollah but Hezbollah has rejected it as long as Israel continues to occupy several hills along the border and carries out almost daily strikes.
The US has recently increased pressure on Lebanon to work harder on disarming Hezbollah and canceled a planned trip to Washington this week by Lebanese army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.
A senior Lebanese army officer told The Associated Press that US officials were angered by an army statement on Sunday that blamed Israel for destabilizing Lebanon and blocking the Lebanese military deployment in south Lebanon. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon two months ago that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.
That war, the most recent of several conflicts involving Hezbollah over the past four decades, killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion worth of destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers.
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