An international summit will kick off on Monday at the conference center in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, with wide participation from world leaders, headed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and US President Donald Trump, and attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The summit will be held this afternoon to discuss the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. President Erdoğan is scheduled to deliver a speech at the summit alongside other heads of state. He will also hold consultations with a number of participating leaders on developments in the region and ways to support calm efforts.
The summit aims to "end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and open a new chapter in regional security and stability," and will see the participation of leaders from more than 20 countries.
According to the Egyptian News Agency, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, US President Donald Trump, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will participate in the summit.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum will also participate in the summit.
A number of prime ministers will also attend, including Kuwait's Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Iraq's Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, Britain's Keir Starmer, Spain's Pedro Sanchez, Italy's Giorgia Meloni, Pakistan's Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Greece's Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Armenia's Nikol Pashinyan, Hungary's Viktor Orbán, Canada's Mark Carney, and Norway's Jonas Gahr Støre.
The summit will also be attended by the Foreign Ministers of Oman, Badr Al-Busaidi, India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and Japan's Ambassador to Egypt, Fumio Iwai, along with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and European Council President António Costa.
In contrast, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that no Iranian representative would participate in the summit, without official confirmation or denial from Tehran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office also announced that Tel Aviv would not participate in the summit.
Sharm el-Sheikh is witnessing intensive preparations to host the event, with its streets and squares decorated with the flags of participating countries and welcome banners in Arabic and English. The conference buildings and halls were illuminated in a scene reflecting the spirit of international solidarity and unity of purpose toward achieving peace, according to the Egyptian News Agency.
The city's major hotels have also increased their readiness to receive official delegations, and security measures have been tightened around Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport and the venues where the sessions will be held. Emergency and ambulance teams, as well as transportation and communications services, are available around the clock to ensure the summit proceeds smoothly and remains highly organized.
On October 9, Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on the first phase of his ceasefire and prisoner exchange plan, following indirect negotiations between the two sides in Sharm el-Sheikh, with the participation of Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar, and under US supervision.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 8, 2023, leaving 67,806 martyrs and 170,066 wounded, most of them children and women, and causing a famine that claimed the lives of 463 Palestinians, including 157 children.
