ISTANBUL: U.S. President Donald Trump declared that the war in Gaza is over as he departed for the Middle East to attend an international summit on the ceasefire agreement reached in the region, Anadolu Agency reported.
“The war is over, understand?” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland en route to his first destination, Tel Aviv.
He was responding to questions about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has yet to acknowledge the end of the conflict.
Trump said he was confident that the ceasefire agreement, based on the 20-point plan he announced last Wednesday, would hold.
“There are many reasons why it will last. But I think everyone is tired of it. This isn’t something recent — it’s been going on for centuries,” he said.
Trump is scheduled to arrive in Tel Aviv at 9:20 a.m. local time on Monday, where he will meet families of hostages and deliver a speech at the Knesset (Israel’s parliament).
He will then travel to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, at 1 p.m. local time to co-chair the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit on the Gaza ceasefire with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
More than 20 world leaders are expected to attend the summit, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, French President Emmanuel Macron, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
In a statement, Egypt said the summit aims to “end the war in the Gaza Strip, strengthen efforts to bring peace and stability to the Middle East, and launch a new phase of regional security and stability.”
Last Wednesday, Trump announced that Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas had agreed to implement the first phase of the 20-point ceasefire plan in Gaza.
The plan includes the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, along with a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. The first phase took effect on Friday.
The second phase involves the establishment of a new administrative body in Gaza without Hamas’s participation, the deployment of a multinational force, and the disarmament of the group.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed more than 67,600 Palestinians in Gaza, rendering much of the territory uninhabitable.
