(Reuters) – Egypt holds a summit on Saturday on the crisis in the Gaza Strip amid growing fears of a widening conflict, but the absence of a top U.S. official and other leaders limits the expectations.
The Cairo peace summit, hastily organized in the midst of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, will bring together several Arab and European heads of state and government or their foreign ministers.
Israel is preparing a ground assault on the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack on October 7, which left 1,400 dead. More than 4,100 Palestinians have been killed during the Israeli counter-offensive, as the humanitarian crisis worsens in the Palestinian enclave subject to a total blockade.
At 1:00 p.m. GMT, it was still unclear who would represent the United States or whether China and Russia would be present.
Egypt has said little about the objectives of the meeting, beyond a presidential statement on October 15 indicating that the summit would cover recent developments in the crisis in the Gaza Strip and the future of the Palestinian question.
“So far there is no clear overview of the participants. Many things are still up in the air,” said a European source.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will not be there, while French President Emmanuel Macron has not confirmed his presence.
According to a French diplomatic source, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will participate in the conference.
Arab countries have expressed anger over Israel’s unprecedented bombing and siege of the Gaza Strip, where 2.3 million people live. European countries have struggled to find a common line, beyond condemnation of the Hamas attack.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Wednesday that Egyptians would reject the forced displacement of Palestinians in the Sinai, and that any such move would turn the Egyptian peninsula into a base for attacks against Israel.
The summit is expected to be opened by the Egyptian president at 0700 GMT on Saturday.
(Reporting by Reuters offices; written by William Maclean; French version Victor Goury-Laffont, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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