Trump signs Gaza peace deal at Egypt summit with other world leaders

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David Michael Lamb

In front of a white backdrop and with a large sign of white letters spelling out “Peace 2025,” Trump shook hands one by one with world leaders at the Gaza summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Trump is co-chair of the summit, along with Egypt’s president. But the parade of leaders standing with the U.S. President and smiling for the cameras put him sqarely in the spotlight.

Everyone from Canada’s Mark Carney to European and Middle Eastern leaders stepped up, as well as the UN secretary general.

A group photo capped off the moment.

'Need is immense' in Gaza as ceasefire holds, says UNICEF spokesperson

Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for UNICEF in Gaza City, says people are returning home after the announcement of a ceasefire to find entire neighbourhoods lacking the food, water and clothing needed to survive the coming winter.

Tess Ingram, a UNICEF spokesperson, echoed Abu Sharekh's comments while also speaking with News Network.

"People are picking through rubble, trying to figure out the best way to move forward and the needs in that sense are immense, particularly for children," said Ingram, who is in Gaza and has been travelling to the territory since January 2024.

She said the levels of distress have increased significantly since then because of the "intensity and the duration of the conflict."

"A child's life is now impacted from multiple angles. An injured child might also be orphaned, might also be malnourished. A displaced child might also have severe mental health need.”

UNICEF is working to provide children with winter clothes and shoes, she added. All of the children Ingram spoke with said they wanted to go back to school.

She said that will be a priority in rebuilding, to "get them back in the classroom, get them learning again and open up their opportunities for the future," but "it's going to take months to meet people's immediate needs, and then of course years to respond to the damage that has been done here."

As U.S. Officials dole out — and bask in — praise for the ceasefire, aid workers say Palestinians returning to their neighbourhoods and homes amid the calm are finding even more destruction than expected.

"Honestly, they are distressed," says Yousra Abu Sharekh, the Gaza program co-ordinator for International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance (INARA).

Abu Sharekh, who is in Gaza, said families in Khan Younis told her they don't want to start rebuilding until they have more clarity about the future, and whether this ceasefire will be "permanent and guaranteed."

Before taking questions from the media alongside Trump, el-Sisi held a meeting on the sidelines with the presidents of France and Turkey, and Qatar's emir and others, the Egyptian president’s office said in a statement.

It said the leaders spoke about helping co-ordinate the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire and reconstruction efforts for the territory.

A British reporter asked Trump when Phase 2 of the ceasefire discussions would take place, to which Trump responded, "They're started as far as we're concerned.

"You know, the phases are all a little bit mixed in with each other. They'll start cleaning up — if you look at Gaza, it's a lot of cleanup. … That's what I call debris times 10."

The U.S. President's Gaza peace plan featured 20 points to be agreed on by Israel and Hamas.

Sitting next to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Trump praises Egypt’s president as a powerful leader, adding that the U.S. Is with him “all the way.”

Trump tells reporters that Egypt played a “very important role” in the ceasefire negotiations, particularly with Hamas.

"We're having an amazing period of time, like I think nobody's seen before," Trump said, calling his stop in Israel before heading to the Gaza peace summit with world leaders "tremendous."

He adds that talks on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement have started.

The two leaders spoke briefly ahead of the official signing of the Israel-Hamas peace plan and speeches from world leaders.

El-Sisi spoke in Arabic, saying Egypt wants to fixate the fire and ensure it sticks.

The hostage release and prisoner swap today was a “joyous” event for many, but it’s a “short-term triumph” in what will ultimately be a massive challenge, says the former UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Lynk said Trump’s 20-point plan has “far too much ambiguity” and “no reliance at all” on international law and UN resolutions on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. He also said there’s concern that the agreement fails to give explicit deadlines or how they’d be enforced.

Lynk said the plan fails to state a clear pathway to a two-state solution, which many have called for. But he added the state of Gaza after two years of war, which has laid waste to much of the territory and devastated its health infrastructure, remains a huge challenge.

“It is a massive task that faces the international community about where to get the money, how to organize reconstruction and whether Palestinians are going to want to stay in the medium or long run.”

Trump's speech at the Knesset was lengthy and off-script. Here are a few key tidbits you may have missed.

David Michael Lamb

What's expected at the Egypt summit on the future of Gaza?

Trump is now on his way to the peace summit in Sharm-el Sheikh. The event will be brief as it is supposed to wrap up later tonight, when Trump heads back to the U.S., but there is a lot for world leaders to discuss in that short time.

The summit is being hosted by Trump and Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. At the heart of the discussions is Trump’s 20-point plan that is the basis for the current ceasefire and the end of the war in Gaza.

Much of that plan still has to be shaped and implemented.

It says Gaza will need a new day-to-day governing structure that does not include Hamas. An international stabilization force will also be sent in, and a plan (including funding) will have to be developed to rebuild the territory, much of which has been destroyed. Details on exactly how this happens, and how quickly, have not been laid out.

All of this unfolds amid nervousness on all sides about how durable the ceasefire will be, and whether peace will last.

Hamas will hand over the bodies of four hostages to Israel on Monday, the militant group said in a post on its Telegram channel.

The four are among 28 deceased Israelis who are set to be released under the first phase of the ceasefire deal.

However, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says the expected return of only four bodies is a "failure to meet commitments” by Hamas.

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

It’s unclear when the other hostages’ remains will be returned to Israel, but a committee has been formed to locate them in Gaza.

In a statement prior to Hamas’s announcement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters said that returning only four of the 28 bodies is a “blatant breach of the agreement by Hamas.”

“We expect Israel’s government and the mediators to take immediate action to rectify this grave injustice,” the group said.

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