French President Emmanuel Macron is planning a trip to Egypt on Monday, where he will discuss “with partners the next steps in implementing the peace plan,” the Elysée Palace in Paris announced. According to their offices, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez are also traveling to the North African country. In Berlin, government circles said that Chancellor Merz had “gratefully accepted” an invitation from al-Sisi and that his participation was planned.
Trump had previously said he would meet a “lot” of leaders in Egypt on Monday to discuss the future of the Gaza Strip. Hamas, however, announced that it would not take part in the “official signing” of the peace plan. However, the Palestinian organization acts “mainly through Qatari and Egyptian intermediaries,” Hamas political office representative Hossam Badran told AFP.
Badran also reiterated Hamas’s refusal to leave the Gaza Strip. “Talk about expelling Palestinians from their land, whether they are Hamas members or not, is absurd and nonsensical,” he told AFP. The second phase of the US peace plan will therefore “involve many complexities and difficulties”.
Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians continued their march to the north of the coastal strip. Since the ceasefire came into effect on Friday, more than 500,000 people have returned to the city of Gaza, Hamas Civil Defense said.
Meanwhile, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner personally reviewed the situation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said. Israel’s army chief Ejal Samir gave them a tour of the war-torn area. Later, Kushner and Witkoff attended a demonstration by the hostage families in Tel Aviv, according to an AFP reporter. “You are coming home,” Witkoff said in a speech addressed to the remaining hostages.
Meanwhile, the head of the US Central Command Centcom, Admiral Brad Cooper, emphasized that no US soldiers will enter the Gaza Strip to ensure the ceasefire. “America’s sons and daughters in uniform are answering the call to ensure peace in the Middle East,” Cooper said on the online service X. “This great undertaking will succeed without the deployment of US soldiers in the Gaza Strip.” On Thursday, Cooper announced the stationing of 200 US soldiers in the Middle East to monitor compliance with the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
A ceasefire came into force in the Gaza Strip on Friday after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first part of Trump’s proposed peace plan. Accordingly, all remaining Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip should be released within 72 hours of entry into force – i.e. by Monday morning. In return, Israel has agreed to release almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli army also withdrew from several areas of the Palestinian territory as agreed.
