World Leaders Sign Historic Agreement to End Gaza War
Bilal Haider :
CAIRO/ GAZA – Mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey signed on Monday with U.S. President Donald Trump a document on the Gaza ceasefire deal. The document was signed during the international summit hosted by Egypt in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on the deal.
Gaza Peace agreement was signed at Sharm El Sheikh Peace Summit in Egypt on Monday. US President Donald Trump, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Amir of Qatar Sheikh Thamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the document that aims at ending the prevailing grave situation in Gaza.
Addressing a joint press conference alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi after signing the agreement, US President Donald Trump said this peace agreement will usher in peace and stability in the region. He thanked the Arab and world leaders who contributed in making this peace agreement possible. He said we have achieved a historic change in the region and all the momentum now is toward lasting peace and our commitment to fulfilling the Gaza Peace plan. Speaking on the occasion, the Egyptian President applauded and thanked the US president for ending the tragic war in Gaza.
He thanked all regional and international partners who contributed in making this agreement possible and reaffirmed support for execution of the plan. The Egyptian President said his country along with other Arab states reiterates that peace remains our option.
He said this is an opportunity to free the Middle East from all that has ever menaced its stability and progress. On the occasion, the Egyptian President announced to decorate US President Donald Trump with Egypt’s highest state honour, the ‘Order of the Nile’ which is awarded to those who render great services to mankind. The signing ceremony was held in the presence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and world leaders including Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif representing Pakistan, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Presidents of Azerbaijan and Indonesia, Prime Ministers of Italy, Spain and Armenia and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
Hamas handed over the 20 surviving Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in two separate groups, as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal. Israel says it has released more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Hostage-prisoner exchange
The Gaza peace deal hinges on both sides adhering to an agreement to exchange hostages seized from Israel in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
The initial stage of the ceasefire deal includes the release of 47 Israeli living and dead hostages taken on October 7, 2023 in exchange for 250 prisoners and 1,700 Gazans held by Israel since the war broke out.
Hamas is also expected to hand over the remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza war.
Israel’s public broadcaster reported Hamas handed over all 20 surviving Israeli hostages to Red Cross representatives with a second group of 13 hostages transferred in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, the broadcaster said.
Hamas’s armed wing on Monday published a list of 20 names, and shortly afterwards militants handed over the first seven hostages to Red Cross representatives in Gaza City.
The Israeli army later confirmed the first group were in their custody.
Israel’s foreign ministry posted on X, identifying the first group of released captives as Guy Gilboa Dalal, Eitan Mor, Matan Angrest, Alon Ohel, Gali and Ziv Berman and Omri Miran.
Hamas had until a midday (0900 GMT) deadline to release the living hostages under the terms of the ceasefire agreement proposed by Trump.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson said the Palestinian detainees would be “released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages set to be released tomorrow are across the border into Israel”.
Israel does not expect all of the dead hostages to be returned on Monday.
“Our struggle is not over. It will not end until the last hostage is located and returned for proper burial,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
Gaza summit
Trump and Sisi will chair the Gaza summit of more than 20 world leaders on Monday in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh.
The US leader arrived in Israel aboard Air Force One ahead of the meet Monday, to be greeted on the red carpet at Ben Gurion airport by Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, before travelling on to give a speech at Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
The gathering aims “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security and stability”, the Egyptian president’s office said.
On Sunday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said a “document ending the war in the Gaza Strip” was expected to be signed during the “historic” gathering.
According three diplomatic sources, mediators the US, Egypt, Qatar and likely Turkey would sign a guarantee document during the summit.
But neither of the warring parties will attend, with Netanyahu’s office saying no Israeli officials would take part, following earlier confirmation from Hamas that it would not send representatives.
Among those expected to attend are UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Canada will also be represented by its Prime Minister Mark Carney, while Macron said Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas would be present.
Egypt has said 21 nations will take part, with representation also expected from the EU and Arab League, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Germany, among others.
Iran said Monday that neither its President Masoud Pezeshkian nor foreign minister Abbas Araghchi will attend, after confirming that it received an invitation.
– Hamas post-war role –
A Hamas source close to the group’s negotiating committee told AFP on Sunday that it would not participate in governing post-war Gaza.
The source, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said the Islamist movement has “relinquished control of the Strip”, but stressed it “remains a fundamental part of the Palestinian fabric”.
“Hamas agrees to a long-term truce, and for its weapons not to be used at all during this period, except in the event of an Israeli attack on Gaza,” the source said.
Another Hamas official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, earlier told AFP the militant group’s disarmament was “out of the question”.
– Aid heads for Gaza –
More than 200 trucks carrying aid destined for Gaza, including six diesel fuel trucks and five carrying cooking gas, were unloaded on Sunday at the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Palestinian territory, according to an AFP reporter who also saw the empty vehicles return to the Egyptian side.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured back into a shattered Gaza City on Saturday, a day after the guns fell silent.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas’s authority, said more than 500,000 people had returned by Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump while en route to attend a historic Middle East ‘peace summit’ in Egypt, pledged to solve the latest escalation between Afghanistan and Pakistan, proclaiming that he is good at solving wars.
“This will be my eighth war that I’ve solved, and I hear there’s a war now going on between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while on his way to Israel — referring to the Gaza ceasefire as his eight.
“I said I’ll have to wait till I get back. I’m doing another one. Because I’m good at solving wars, I’m good at making peace, and it’s an honour to do it. I saved millions of lives, millions of lives,” he added.
Deadly border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan started late on Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that 23 troops were martyred and 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists were killed when Islamabad responded to aggression by Kabul.
“Because I am good at solving wars…Think about India, Pakistan. Think about some of the wars that were going on for years. We had one going for 31, one going for 32, one going for 37 years, with millions of people being killed in every country, and I got every one of those done, for the most part, within a day. It’s pretty good.”
His remarks position the US leader as a leading figure in resolving complex international disputes. As regards the Nobel peace prize being awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, Trump said: “In all fairness to the Nobel committee, it was for 2024 But there are those that say you could make an exception cause a lot of things happened during 2025 that are done and completed and great. “But I did this not for Nobel, I did this for saving lives,” he added.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump declared “the historic dawn of the new Middle East” in a triumphant address before the Knesset on Monday, as the final 20 living hostages were released from Gaza under a US-brokered ceasefire deal.
Trump said it marked “not only the end of war, but the end of an age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God.”
He told the lawmakers that Israel had no more to achieve on the battlefield and must work toward peace in the Middle East, and said he would deliver a similar message to regional leaders in Egypt later in the day.
The president pressed Israel to look past the war, saying it had achieved all it could “by force of arms.”
“You’ve won. I mean, you’ve won,” he said. “Now it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
“What a victory it’s been,” added Trump, noting that if Israel had kept fighting for years, “it was getting bad. It was getting heated.”
“The timing of this [deal to end the fighting] is brilliant, and I said, Bibi [Netanyahu], you’re going to remembered for this far more than if you kept this thing going, going, going, kill, kill, kill,” Trump said.
Directly addressing Netanyahu, he said: “I just want to congratulate you for having the courage to say that’s it, we’ve won, and now let’s enjoy our lives and let’s rebuild Israel and make it stronger and bigger and better than it’s ever been before.”
The president’s lengthy address included expressions of thanks to numerous people, but he focused especially on Netanyahu, hailing his patriotism, and declaring that “his partnership did so much to make this day possible.”
“He’s not easy, I wanna tell you,” said Trump. “He’s not the easiest guy to deal with. But that’s what makes him great.”
Later, after complimenting Yair Lapid as “a nice man,” he adlibbed to Netanyahu: “Now you can be a little bit nicer because you’re not at war anymore, Bibi.”
In fact, Netanyahu has not formally called an end to the war, but Trump has said repeatedly in the past few days — including in an answer to a question on his flight, and again to a reporter in the Knesset — that “the war is over.”
Countries in the region “like Israel a lot more today than they did five weeks ago,” Trump said, likely referring to Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha.
“You’ve come back strong because it was getting to be a little nasty out there in the world, and ultimately the world wins,” he said. He praised Israel for doing so much for such a small country. “The world is loving Israel again.”
Trump promised to help rebuild Gaza and urged Palestinians to “turn forever from the path of terror and violence.”
“After tremendous pain and death and hardship,” he said, “now is the time to concentrate on building their people up instead of trying to tear Israel down.”
Outreach to Iran
Trump even made a gesture to Iran, where he bombed three nuclear sites during the country’s brief war with Israel earlier this year, by saying “the hand of friendship and cooperation is always open.”
“We merely want to live in peace,” he said. “We don’t want any looming threats over our heads.”
He said it would be great if a peace deal could be hammered out between Iran and Israel. “Would you be happy with that? Wouldn’t it be nice?” he asked Netanyahu. “Because I think they want to. I think they’re tired.”
Trump said Iran is not restarting its nuclear program. “The last thing they want to do is start digging holes again in mountains that just got blown up. They want to survive, OK?”
Iran, which has called for Israel’s elimination and funded a network of terror groups that seek its destruction, has rejected the notion of normalizing its relations with Jerusalem.
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