reece and Cyprus are among the countries invited by US President Donald Trump to a summit for Gaza, set to take place at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh.
Athens and Nicosia are expected to be represented by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Nikos Christodoulides, respectively.
The summit, deemed as imperative for achieving an end to the war that has engulfed the Palestinian enclave after the Hamas militant group, which ran the Gaza with an “iron first” since 2005, invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The summit will be co-chaired by Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the host.
The Egyptian president announced the participant countries on Saturday evening, when referring to the “summit of peace”.
Washington has significantly expanded the list of invitees, adding Spain, Japan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Hungary, India, El Salvador, Cyprus, Greece, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Canada. According to one source, Iran was also invited, however, Israel will not participate, according to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, who writes for Axios.
On its part, Hamas announced that it would not participate in the official signing of the agreement.
“As for the official signing, we will not be present,” senior Hamas official Hosam Badran said in an interview with afp, adding that he would be represented by “mediators,” citing Qatar and Egypt.
By Monday morning, based on a brokered agreement between Israel and Hamas, live hostages and the bodies of hostages who died as captives in the hands of the Islamist group, a total of 48, will be returned to Israel.
In exchange, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinian inmates, including individuals convicted of deadly terrorist attacks, as well as 1,700 other Palestinians captured by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip after the outbreak of war in October 2023.
Source: tovima.com
