Trump urges world leaders to seize momentum for Gaza peace

US President Donald Trump delivers a statement during a summit on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on Oct. 13.
Photo: AFP

President Donald Trump pressed world leaders gathered at a summit on Gaza’s future to ensure the US-led truce between Israel and Hamas turns into a lasting peace, hailing the agreement as a “new beginning” for the war-torn region, Bloomberg writes.

Trump’s whirlwind trip, which also included a stop in Israel, heightened optimism for ending the two-year-long war between Israel and Hamas.

“Together, we’ve achieved what everybody said was impossible. At long last we have peace in the Middle East,” Trump said. “Now the rebuilding begins.”

Yet the nascent ceasefire remains fragile, with many key details left to be worked out. Trump said food and aid has begun to flow into Gaza, which has been devastated by the conflict. “Numerous countries of great wealth” have pledged reconstruction funds, Trump added, though he did not name them.

Almost three dozen world leaders from Europe and the Middle East attended the summit, including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Trump cast the attendance list as a show of force, saying “all the momentum now” is behind his 20-point plan for peace. Still, at the end of his speech, the US president openly solicited leaders to join the yet-to-be-formed “board of peace” he wants to govern Gaza in place of Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined an invitation to participate in the summit, citing an upcoming Jewish holiday.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Gaza’s next steps, Trump sought to frame the truce as an historic achievement and urged world leaders to help ensure no party undermined it.

Officials at the Egypt summit were expected to discuss thorny issues about Gaza’s future, such as persuading Hamas to disarm and ensuring the militant group agrees to play no part in the governance of the territory, which it’s ruled since 2007. They had also planned to talk about some countries sending peacekeepers to Gaza and how to go about rebuilding the territory after two years of devastating war.

Sisi said he is aiming to host a summit on Gaza’s reconstruction in November and would like to have Trump present.

There’s plenty of skepticism the truce will last. Almost as soon as Trump finished his speech — mostly met with rapturous applause from Israeli lawmakers — the country’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said Hamas had failed to meet a commitment to release the remains of all dead hostages by Monday.

“Any delay or deliberate avoidance will be considered a gross violation of the agreement and will be responded to accordingly,” said Katz.

As of last week’s agreement, 48 hostages — all but one of them male — were still held in Gaza, with 20 of them alive.

There were scenes of jubilation in Israel as the 20 living captives were freed, as well as among Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank as prisoners were released.

Israel has pulled back troops from most populated areas in Gaza and has agreed to allow much more aid into the Mediterranean territory, home to around 2.2 million people.

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