Gaza peace summit
The Gaza peace summit, also known as the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit, was a diplomatic meeting held on 13 October 2025 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, following an agreement to implement the first phase of the Gaza peace plan to end the Gaza war which began in 2023. Representatives from around 30 countries attended the summit, which was co-chaired by presidents Donald Trump of the United States and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, although representatives for Israel and Hamas were absent.
Background
The Gaza war began on 7 October 2023 following a series of coordinated armed attacks carried out by a group of Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas in southern Israel. On 8 October 2025, the Israeli government and Hamas agreed to the first part of a Gaza peace plan proposed by US president Donald Trump which resulted in the cessation of hostilities on 10 October 2025. Plans for an international summit relating to the next steps in the peace process were announced by Trump later that day.Trump gave a speech to the Israeli Knesset and guests in the morning before attending the summit, urging Israel to focus on peace and prosperity in the Middle East and calling on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the various legal charges he faced. Trump also met with hostage families.
Aims
The summit was to discuss the next steps in the implementation of the Gaza peace plan and it was intended that the focus should be on the future governance of the Gaza Strip, security and humanitarian assistance.Attendees
Representatives from around 30 countries and from several international organisations were invited to attend.Attendance was as follows:
; UN member and observer states
;International organisations
; Absences
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and foreign minister Abbas Araghchi were invited but declined the invitation, with Araghchi later posting on social media that "Neither President Pezeshkian nor I can engage with counterparts who have attacked the Iranian People and continue to threaten and sanction us". The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, was invited to attend by Sisi at Trump's request, and though he initially confirmed his attendance, he ended up declining as the summit coincided with the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Reuters reported that Netanyahu's attendance was diplomatically opposed by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other leaders.
Outcomes
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, U.S. President Donald Trump, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan all signed a joint declaration known as the "Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity." However, representatives of Israel and Hamas, the central parties of the Gaza war, did not attend.Trump stated that the signed document contains "a lot of rules and regulations" and that "It's very comprehensive", however the New York Times assessed that the published document did not contain substantive details. The joint agreement was criticized for being simplistic and offering few details concerning how to achieve a regional peace agreement, including in Gaza. By some analysts, the whole summit itself was seen as largely symbolical and virtue signaling, rather than a fixed and substantive peace deal.