Among the global figures expected to attend are UN Secretary-General António Guterres, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have also confirmed their participation.

The European Council will be represented by its president, António Costa. “The plan offers a real chance to build a just and sustainable peace, and the EU is fully committed to supporting these efforts and contributing to its implementation,” a spokesperson said.

Read Also: Egypt’s President Supports Trump’s Gaza Ceasefire Initiative

Jordan’s King Abdullah II is also slated to attend, according to state media.

However, there’s still no official confirmation on whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will participate. Meanwhile, Palestinian militant group Hamas has already ruled out its involvement in the summit.

“Hamas will not be involved,” said Hossam Badran, a senior political bureau member of the group, in an interview with reporters. He added that previous negotiations on Gaza were primarily conducted through Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

The summit comes at a critical time as diplomatic pressure intensifies to find a long-term resolution to the ongoing conflict, which has exacted a heavy toll on civilians and regional stability.

Source: Punch

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Under the deal, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, while Hamas will free 20 living hostages in the first phase. A source within Hamas said the swap will involve nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees, including 250 serving life sentences.

The Israeli army confirmed preparations to withdraw troops from Gaza as part of the agreement. The deal also aligns with a peace plan announced earlier by U.S. President Donald Trump, which proposes Hamas’s disarmament and a transitional authority to govern Gaza.

News of the ceasefire sparked widespread celebration in Gaza, where residents expressed relief after years of bombardment and displacement. “Tears of joy flowed,” said displaced resident Samer Joudeh. “After two years of fear and loss, we finally feel a moment of respite.”

Talks were held behind closed doors in Egypt’s resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, with negotiators from Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S. mediating. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed optimism, saying he would bring the hostages home “with God’s help.”

Read Also: Israel to ‘take control’ of Gaza City after approving new war plan

The war, which began after Hamas’s October 2023 attack that left over a thousand Israelis dead, has killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to health authorities.

Global calls for peace have grown amid mounting humanitarian crises and international protests. Both Israel and Hamas face accusations of war crimes, while mediators continue to push for lasting peace in the region.

Source: Channel

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Sisi said Trump’s plan, which calls for a ceasefire, prisoner releases, Gaza reconstruction, and renewed political talks toward a Palestinian state, marked “the right path to lasting peace and stability.”

Reflecting on Egypt’s past peace with Israel, he said the accord that ended hostilities between the two countries remains “the foundation of future peace deals” and must be strengthened.

Read Also: Israel to ‘take control’ of Gaza City after approving new war plan

“Peace imposed by force only generates strife, while peace built on justice produces true normalisation,” Sisi said.

Egypt continues to serve as a key mediator between Hamas and Israel, alongside Qatar and the United States.

Source: Punch

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Under the plan to “defeat” Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army “will prepare to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones”, the premier’s office said.

Before the decision, Netanyahu said Israel planned to take full control of Gaza but did not intend to govern it.

He told US network Fox News on Thursday that the military would seize complete control of the Gaza Strip, noting that Israel did not want “to keep” the territory, which it occupied in 1967 but withdrew troops and settlers from in 2005.

Netanyahu said Israel wanted a “security perimeter” and to hand the Palestinian territory to “Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us”.

“That’s not possible with Hamas,” he added.

His office on Friday said a majority of the security cabinet had adopted “five principles”, including demilitarisation of the territory and “the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority”.

The plan drew criticism from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said it was “wrong” and “will only bring more bloodshed”.

“This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages,” said Starmer, who has threatened to recognise a Palestinian state.

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The two soldiers, aged 20 and 22, served in the Golani Infantry Brigade’s 51st Battalion.

Israeli military sources said they were killed when their armoured vehicle exploded in the city of Khan Yunis.

Military correspondents from several Israeli media outlets said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device detonated by a militant who emerged from a tunnel.An investigation was underway.

The Israeli military says 462 soldiers have been killed since the start of its ground offensive in Gaza on October 27, 2023.

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Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced at least once during 21 months of conflict, and the Al-Shati camp, on the Mediterranean coast, hosts thousands of people displaced from the north in tents and makeshift shelters.

Raed Bakr lives with his three children and said he heard “a massive explosion” at about 1:40 am, which blew their tent away.

He said he carried a six-year-old child to get treatment and said the nearby Shifa hospital once one of Gaza’s largest and was overwhelmed with wounded people.

The civil defence agency’s Bassal said two more people were killed in Deir el-Balah, where the Israeli army said it would expand its ground operations, having ordered the evacuation of much of the area.

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Representatives from Qatar and Egypt, who have been heavily involved in peace efforts, will deliver this latest proposal to the Palestinian extremist organisation, Hamas.

“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better, IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he noted.

The president said U.S. representatives held a long and productive meeting with Israeli officials on Tuesday to discuss Gaza.

However, there was no immediate comment from the Israeli side.

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Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Ghalibaf also welcomed the deal which made the Zionist regime fail in achieving its strategic goal.

Read Also: Iran Welcomes End Of Israel ‘Aggression’ In Lebanon — Foreign Ministry

He called for action to punish the criminal regime and heal the wounds of the Palestinian nation.

On Wednesday Qatar and the United States announced a ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas.

The truce would take effect on Sunday and involve the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, after which the terms of a broader peace deal would be finalised.

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The WHO in a statement on X  said that initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burned and destroyed during the raid.

Gaza health officials said that Israeli forces had detained the director of the hospital.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said that occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention centre for interrogation, including the director, Hussam Abu Safia.

Read Also: Israeli airstrike in Beirut kills Hezbollah media chief

The ministry had earlier quoted Abu Safia as saying the military had set on fire all surgery departments of the hospital and that there were a large number of injuries among the medical team.

The WHO reiterated its call for a ceasefire.

Israel’s military began a renewed ground offensive in northern Gaza in October and has claimed that the hospital had become a key stronghold for terrorist organisations and continues to be used as a hideout for terrorist operatives.

Before initiating the latest attack on the hospital, the Israeli military said its soldiers had facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel.

Hamas denied its fighters were present in the hospital and urged the UN to set up an investigation committee to examine the scale of crime being committed in northern Gaza.

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The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

The bodies of 15 people killed in the strike were brought to Kamal Adwan Hospital, its director Hussam Abu Safia told reporters.

He said 35 wounded people, most of them children, were being treated at the hospital.

Last week, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli troops had stormed the hospital, while the Israeli military said it was operating around it.

Since October 6, the military has conducted a sweeping air and ground assault in northern Gaza, particularly in the areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, in what it describes as an operation to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping.

In a statement issued earlier today, the military said it had carried out several ground and air strikes in Jabalia over the past day, killing around 40 militants.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee northern Gaza since the onslaught began, while the civil defence agency has reported hundreds of deaths.

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