• Israel and Hamas not represented as world leaders gather in Sharm El Sheikh for landmark summit
• US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye become guarantors to Gaza peace deal
• Sisi says deal sets stage for ‘two-state solution’
• PM Shehbaz hails US president’s role as peacemaker, offers to nominate him for another Nobel • US president thanks PM Shehbaz, Field Marshal Munir for their contributions

CAIRO: US President Donald Trump declared an end to the two-year-long war on Gaza, hours before four guarantors signed a declaration on Monday meant to cement a ceasefire in Gaza – although both Israel and Hamas were formally absent from the occasion.

Addressing a ceremony following the signing of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas at the Sharm El Sheikh Peace Summit in Egypt, Trump hailed a “tremendous day for the Middle East”, declaring the assembled leaders had “achieved what everybody said was impossible”.

According to the document, signed by Trump and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye, the signatories pledged to “pursue a comprehensive vision of peace, security and shared prosperity in the region”, and also welcomed “the progress achieved in establishing comprehensive and durable peace arrangements in the Gaza Strip”.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the Gaza deal “closes a painful chapter in human history” and sets the stage for a two-state solution.

As part of Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, Hamas on Monday freed the last 20 surviving Israeli prisoners, while around 2,000 Palestinians captives were also freed from Israeli prisons.

“The skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace,” Trump said during an earlier address at the Knesset.

“For so many families across this land, it has been years since you’ve known a single day of true peace,” Trump told Israel’s parliament, where he received a lengthy standing ovation.

“Not only for Israelis, but also for Palestinians and for many others, the long and painful nightmare is finally over.”

The US leader has repeatedly signalled he is confident the ceasefire will hold, saying at a joint appearance with Sisi in Sharam El Sheikh that talks on the next steps of the plan had already “started, as far as we’re concerned”.

Although Trump wanted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to attend the summit, he expressed his inability to attend due to “Jewish holidays”. No Hamas representative was present at the event, either.

The summit in Egypt brought together leaders from the Muslim and Arab world, as well as top European heads of state, including UN chief Antonio Guterres, French leader Emmanuel Macron, British PM Keir Starmer, Canadian PM Mark Carney, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and several others.

Another Nobel

PM Shehbaz Sharif, who was representing Pakistan at the summit, called President Trump ‘genuinely a man of peace’, and offered to nominate him for the Nobel peace prize once again for his efforts to bring peace to Gaza.

“I would say that Pakistan had nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his outstanding and extraordinary contributions to first stop the war between India and Pakistan and then achieve a ceasefire along with his very wonderful team,” he said, after Trump invited him to deliver a special address.

“And today again, I would like to nominate this great president for the Nobel Peace Prize because I genuinely feel he is the most genuine and the most wonderful candidate for the peace prize because he has not only brought peace in South Asia, saved millions of people, their lives, and today, here in Sharm el-Sheikh, achieved peace in Gaza and saved millions of lives in the Middle East.“

PM Shehbaz said he wanted to salute Trump for his “exemplary [and] visionary leadership”.

“It took his single-minded pursuit of peace to end the needless killing and destruction,” he wrote in an earlier post on X.

“You are the man this world needed the most at this point in time. The world will always remember you as a man who did everything [and] went out of the way to stop seven and today eight wars,” he added during his remarks at the peace summit.

The premier also thanked the Qatari emir for his efforts in securing peace in Gaza and the wider region, along with the efforts of the Turkish, Saudi and Emirati leadership.

Retaking the podium, Trump quipped: “Wow! I didn’t expect that. Let’s go home, there’s nothing more I have to say. Goodbye everybody. That was really beautiful and beautifully delivered, thank you very much.”

He especially thanked PM Shehbaz and “my favourite” Field Marshal Asim Munir for their efforts in helping achieve peace in Gaza.

During his trip, PM Shehbaz also held bilateral discussions other leaders, including King Abdullah II of Jordan, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Snchez, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.

The premier also met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who thanked Pakistan for its “unwavering political and diplomatic support’’.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2025