UK’s Starmer arrives in Egypt to attend summit on Gaza ceasefire

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived Sunday in Egypt to attend an international peace summit on a Gaza ceasefire, the BBC reported.

Starmer will pay "particular tribute" to US President Donald Trump at the summit in the Egyptian town of Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday, said Downing Street.

The summit, co-chaired by Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, aims "to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to bring peace and stability to the Middle East and usher in a new phase of regional security and stability," according to Cairo.

More than 20 world leaders are expected to attend the summit including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Trump on Wednesday announced that Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his 20-point plan aimed at implementing a ceasefire in Gaza. The plan includes the release of all Israeli captives in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. The first phase took effect on Friday.

Phase two of the plan envisions the creation of a new governing body in Gaza excluding Hamas, the deployment of a multinational force and the disarmament of Hamas.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed more than 67,600 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, leaving the enclave largely uninhabitable.