The “peace summit” in Gaza seeks a permanent end to the two-year-old war

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Leaders from nearly 20 countries will gather in Egypt for a “peace summit” on Monday, as US President Donald Trump begins a whirlwind trip to the Middle East as part of his campaign to secure a permanent end to the two-year-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The summit comes at a time when Hamas is scheduled to release the Israeli hostages it is still holding in Gaza in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, as part of the first phase of the US President’s plan to end the bloodiest war in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The remaining 48 hostages – 20 of whom are believed to be alive – are expected to be released on Monday morning, but the timing could change and “last-minute hiccups” are still possible, a person familiar with the situation said. The Palestinian prisoners will be released after the hostages are released.

The prospect of an end to the war has sparked a wave of emotion in both Israel and Palestine. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis chanted, “Thank you, Trump!” As they gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening ahead of the expected return of the hostages, there were celebrations in Gaza, as displaced families began returning to their destroyed homes.

But while both Israel and Hamas have agreed to the exchange, and the fragile ceasefire in Gaza has held since Friday, they have not yet agreed to the second phase of Trump’s plan, which calls for the disarmament of Hamas, a broader withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the deployment of an international stabilization force in the Palestinian enclave.

An Egyptian presidential spokesman said on Saturday that the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh — before which Trump will stop briefly in Israel to meet hostage families and deliver a speech before Parliament — aims to “end the war in the Gaza Strip, strengthen peace and stability efforts in the Middle East, and open a new page in regional security and stability.”

Among the leaders who confirmed their attendance at the summit, which will be co-chaired by Trump and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, are French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

However, neither Israel nor Hamas will attend the summit, and diplomats expect that securing their approval for the second phase of Trump’s plan will be far more complex than the first.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has not pledged to completely withdraw its forces from Gaza, nor is it talking about ending the war, and his far-right coalition partners have repeatedly threatened to topple his administration if the war ends without destroying Hamas.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that he had ordered Israeli forces to prepare to blow up Hamas’ remaining tunnel network in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Hamas has yet to agree to disarm and, in a show of force, has begun to reassert its power in parts of Gaza that Israel has withdrawn from since the ceasefire took effect on Friday, setting up checkpoints and engaging in armed battles with rival groups in the Strip.

However, diplomats see the latest push as the best chance yet to finally end the war in Gaza, which was sparked by a shock Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, on Israel in which Palestinian militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took 250 more hostage.

The Israeli retaliatory attack killed more than 67,600 people, according to Palestinian officials, reduced much of Gaza to uninhabitable rubble, and sparked accusations – Israel Israel denies committing genocide in the Palestinian Strip.