By FAY ABULGASIM and SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press
SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — The U.S. and Egyptian presidents are chairing a gathering of world leaders dubbed “Summit for Peace” on Monday to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal.
Israel and Hamas have no direct contacts and were not expected to attend Monday’s summit. The Israeli prime minister’s office said Benjamin Netanyahu will not travel to the venue because of a Jewish holiday.
Israel has rejected any role in Gaza for the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, whose leader, Mahmoud Abbas, arrived in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh early on Monday afternoon ahead of the gathering.
The summit comes as Hamas released 20 remaining living Israeli hostages and Israel started 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 — even as the world pushes for peace.
A new page
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’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 U.S. President Donald Trump’s vision.
The two sides came under pressure from the United States, Arab countries and Turkey to agree on the ceasefire’s first phase negotiated in Qatar.
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.
Ahead of the gathering, Egypt’s foreign minister said it was also crucial that Israel and Hamas fully implement the first phase of the deal so that the parties, with international backing, can begin negotiations on the second phase.
The success of Trump’s vision for Mideast peace is his continued commitment to the process, including applying pressure on the parties, engagement and “even deployment on the ground” with international forces expected to carry out peacekeeping duties in the next phase, said Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
“We need American engagement, even deployment on the ground, to identify the mission, task and mandate of this force,” Abdelatty told The Associated Press.
Directly tackling the remaining issues in depth is unlikely at the gathering, expected to last about two hours. El-Sissi 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.
Critical challenges ahead
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.
Abdelatty said the international force needs a U.N. Security Council resolution to endorse its deployment and mandate as a peacekeeping 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.
Before the truce was agreed on, Israel and Hamas — staunch enemies who have little trust in each other and a number of failed negotiations behind them — held negotiations in Doha, Qatar’s capital, through indirect talks, with Egypt and Qatar as meditators.
Iran, a main backer of Hamas, is also not attending the summit in Egypt as the Islamic Republic finds itself at one of its weakest moments since its 1979 revolution. Iranian officials portrayed the ceasefire deal as a victory for Hamas.
The deal however, 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 summit in Egypt is likely to see world leaders praise Trump’s push for the ceasefire. For his part, el-Sissi is almost certainly relieved that plans to depopulate the Gaza Strip have been ditched.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani are attending. Turkey, which hosted Hamas political leaders for years, played a key role in bringing about the ceasefire agreement.
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.
Britain’s Prime Minister is Keir Starmer is among the leaders attending. He has said will pledge 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.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, European Union President António Costa and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are 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.
The town 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.
Though now more known for luxury beach resorts, dive sites and desert tours, Sharm el-Sheikh has also hosted many peace summits and rounds of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians under President Hosni Mubarak, ousted in 2011, as well as other international conferences.
Monday’s gathering is the first peace summit under el-Sissi.
El Deeb contributed from Cairo.
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