The Israeli war on Gaza has evolved into one of the most devastating and protracted confrontations in the modern history of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. More than two years of war have left tens of thousands dead, millions displaced and Gaza’s infrastructure in ruins.
The enclave’s population has endured catastrophic humanitarian conditions under bombardment and blockade, while ceasefire efforts repeatedly collapsed amid mutual accusations of violations and irreconcilable positions over hostages, borders and governance. By mid-2025, regional tensions — spilling over into Lebanon and Yemen — underscored the urgent need for a comprehensive settlement. Against this backdrop, the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit, held on October 13, 2025, marked a turning point towards peace, with US President Donald Trump stating that “the long and painful nightmare is finally over.”
The pathway to Sharm El-Sheikh was paved through intensive diplomacy following the breakdown of the short-lived January 2025 ceasefire. Egypt, long a pivotal mediator in Gaza affairs, coordinated with the United States to restore negotiations. Qatar and Türkiye, leveraging their links to Hamas, facilitated indirect communications. The breakthrough occurred on October 9, 2025, when Israel and Hamas signed a first-phase agreement in Sharm El-Sheikh that set out the withdrawal of Israeli forces to agreed lines, the exchange of hostages and prisoners on a large scale and the opening of humanitarian access into Gaza.
Trump’s personal engagement — marked by shuttle diplomacy and high-profile rhetoric — was instrumental in advancing the deal. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s announcement of the summit framed it as a historic effort to “close a painful chapter” and open a “new era of peace,” reflecting Cairo’s strategic ambition to stabilize its borders and project a positive role in regional diplomacy.
As part of the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas released 20 surviving Israeli hostages, while Israel began freeing more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. “For so many families across this land, it has been years since you’ve known a single day of true peace,” Trump proclaimed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed him as “the greatest friend of Israel,” though Netanyahu himself would later skip the summit, citing a religious holiday.
The footage of released hostages, widely broadcast across Israeli and Palestinian cities, injected a rare sense of relief. Yet analysts warned that the euphoria could be fleeting: the ceasefire, they noted, remained fragile — a beginning, not an end.
Held in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city, the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit gathered over 20 world leaders, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Co-chaired by Trump and Sisi, it sought to expand the October 9 framework into a comprehensive peace architecture. At its core lay the implementation of Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, announced on September 29, 2025. The plan called for a phased Israeli withdrawal to pre-agreed lines, the disarmament and exclusion of Hamas from governance, the establishment of an internationally supervised transitional administration to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction and a conditional pathway toward Palestinian self-determination. It also envisaged the deployment of a multinational stabilization force, with Trump positioning himself as the guarantor of the roadmap.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, adopted a “balanced and pragmatic” approach, seeking a comprehensive resolution to end Palestinian suffering by formally recognizing Palestine as a sovereign state within the Saudi-French-led initiative to urge the UN to adopt the two-state solution. During a press conference following the signing ceremony of the agreement to end the war in Gaza, Trump praised Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was represented in Egypt by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, for his great efforts. “I thank the Saudi Crown Prince — he is a special friend of mine — for the tremendous work he has done,” Trump said. “While Israel’s actions in the region have often been marked by escalation and excessive force, Riyadh has maintained a measured and rational stance, working with partners such as France to build a regional safety net,” Nasira noted. For Trump, the summit represented both a diplomatic gamble and a personal triumph. Even some of his critics conceded that the ceasefire was “his deal.” Former US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan acknowledged on CNN, “I give credit to President Trump … The question is whether this can stick.”
Despite the summit’s success, doubts persist over the long-term viability of the agreement. The absence of Hamas and Netanyahu underscored its incomplete inclusivity. Analysts warn that the deal’s externally imposed nature — crafted by mediators rather than the belligerents — risks repeating past failures. Key issues remain unresolved: Hamas’s disarmament, the timeline for Israeli troop withdrawal and mechanisms for Gaza’s governance transition. Early reports of Israeli forces killing several Palestinians near a demarcation line on October 14 signaled the fragility of the truce. On October 19, an explosion in Rafah, reportedly caused by Hamas, killed two Israeli soldiers. The subsequent Israeli airstrikes killed at least 45 Palestinian, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense, raising the overall death toll to 97 since the declared cessation of hostilities on October 10.
Moreover, Hamas insists that disarmament must follow — not precede — guarantees against Israeli reoccupation and for unimpeded reconstruction. Israeli officials, meanwhile, avoid committing to full withdrawal, citing security risks. Trump’s assertive diplomacy has also reshaped domestic and regional political dynamics. His rapturous reception in Jerusalem —where crowds chanted “Thank you, Trump!” — contrasted sharply with boos directed at Netanyahu, revealing growing Israeli fatigue with the prime minister’s leadership. Saudi analyst Salman al-Ansari commented that US policymakers must learn “to distinguish between supporting Israel as a nation and aligning uncritically with Netanyahu.” Ansari also suggested that Trump now faces a historic opportunity, “If he takes the lead in ending the cycle of violence and pushes for a two-state solution, he could restore America’s global credibility and achieve what no US president has — an enduring peace.”
The Sharm El-Sheikh Summit carries weighty implications for the US foreign policy. It reinforces Trump’s “America First” diplomacy, positioning the United States as a key peace broker while showcasing his transactional deal-making style. Yet the peace’s sustainability will depend on concrete follow-up mechanisms: credible disarmament monitoring, transparent reconstruction funding and inclusive Palestinian political reconciliation. Without these, the agreement risks degenerating into yet another ceasefire destined to fail.
The Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit stands as a moment of cautious optimism — a necessary pause in a devastating war rather than its definitive end. The ceasefire has halted the bloodshed, but the path to peace remains fraught with mistrust, asymmetry and unresolved sovereignty disputes. If implemented faithfully, the summit’s agreements could usher in a new era of regional diplomacy, where Arab states, backed by US mediation, assume collective responsibility for peacebuilding. But should enforcement falter or core grievances persist, the “end of the war” proclaimed at Sharm El-Sheikh may prove, like so many before it, to be only an interlude in an unfinished tragedy.
