Dutch PM Schoof heading to Egypt for international summit on Gaza

Prime Minister Dick Schoof will attend an international summit on the future of Gaza in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, a spokesperson for the caretaker Prime Minister announced on Sunday.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and United States President Donald Trump will chair the meeting. According to the Egyptians, a document ending the war in the Gaza Strip will be signed at the summit.

Two weeks ago, Trump presented a plan to end the two-year-long war in the Palestinian coastal strip. Israel and Hamas reached an agreement last week in Sharm el-Sheikh on the first phase of the peace agreement. The first phase includes the release of surviving Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian people in Israeli prisons early on Monday.

Over 20 leaders are going to Egypt, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Leaders from the Arab region are also traveling to the Red Sea resort city.

Schoof will also hold bilateral meetings with other leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh, according to the spokesperson. Last week, it was announced that the Netherlands will co-host a conference on the reconstruction of Gaza in Egypt. This conference is expected to take place in a few weeks.

Israel and Hamas have not yet agreed on all aspects of the peace plan. Among other things, there is no agreement yet on the disarmament of Hamas. The terrorist organization triggered the war two years ago with an attack on Israel that left 1,137 people dead.

Israel responded with large-scale bombings and blocked aid from entering the Gaza Strip. As of October 10, Israel has killed 67,211 people in the Gaza Strip, including 20,179 children. 460 people have starved to death. 154 of them were children and babies, Al Jazeera reported based on the latest figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.