Trump declares 'war is over' as he heads to Gaza peace summit

New York, Oct 13 (IANS) Declaring, “The war is over”, US President Donald Trump headed out to Egypt, where he will be joined on Monday by several international leaders for a summit on the peace process for Gaza ending a two-year conflict.

It will mark the first momentous peace breakthrough in Trump’s second term after he strong-armed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas to agree to the 20-point peace deal he proposed.

Before going to Sharm El-Sheikh for the summit, he will first stop over in Israel, where he is expected to meet Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and address the country’s parliament, the Knesset.

After the ceasefire doused the fighting in Gaza on Friday, Hamas was committed to releasing the remaining Israeli hostages and it is expected to take place on Monday through the Red Cross.

The conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas and its affiliates stormed Israel from Gaza, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Hamas has released several hostages in earlier deals to let them go in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners, and in addition to the remaining 20 hostages, Hamas was to hand over the bodies of about 20 who died in custody.

In Israel’s retaliation about 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza officials.

The peace deal, based on a 20-point peace plan announced by Trump, was mediated by Egyptian, Qatari and Turkiye officials with the participation of some Americans, including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Presidents Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestine Authority, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, and Emmanuel Macron of France, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and leaders from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were among those expected to be at the summit.

It was not known if Israel will attend, and, if so, at what level.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited by the summit’s co-chairs Trump and el-Sisi, but he is not attending, and Kirti Vardhan Singh is to represent India.

Trump was confident that the ceasefire and the next phases of the peace plan will go ahead pointing to the celebrations on both sides.

“Everyone was cheering at one time, that's never happened before”, he said. “Usually if you have one cheering, the other is the opposite”.

Holding an umbrella against the rain as he was heading to Air Force One for his trip, he told reporters "500,000 people yesterday and today in Israel" celebtrated the deal and the "Muslim and Arab countries were cheering”.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty also expressed confidence about the peace holding.

The next phase of the peace deal requires Hamas laying down arms.

Abdelatty told a CBS News interviewer that Egypt was coordinating with Jordan to train and deploy a 5,000-member Palestinian force in Gaza to ensure security.

As for deploying an international force, he said that it would need some form UN Security Council backing.

It is unlikely to be a UN Peacekeeping Operation, but Arab and Muslim are expected to send troops there.

Indonesia has already offered 20,000 troops.

Under Trump’s plan, a Board of Peace chaired by him would oversee the stabilisation and reconstruction of Gaza, where according to the UN 80 per cent have been destroyed in the Israeli attacks.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to run its operations.

Hamas, which ran Gaza, would be banned from any role in the territory's’ governance, and instead a group “qualified Palestinians and international experts” would be in charge.

About the priority, Trump told reporters on Air Force One, “You have to get people taken care of first — but it's going to start, really, essentially immediately”.

As part of the deal, Israel, which had blocked relief supplies into Gaza, was allowing them into the territory, the UN announced.

Trucks with food, medicines, and tents were arriving in Gaza, the UN said.

--IANS

al/rs