Overview

• US President Donald Trump and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah El-Sisi are co-chairing a signing ceremony in Sharm El-Sheikh with more than 20 leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif.
• Israel said the first seven hostages were handed to the Red Cross as initial exchanges began, with Palestinian prisoner releases set under the plan’s opening phase.
• The UK is announcing a £20 million humanitarian package for Gaza to be delivered via UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the Norwegian Refugee Council, and it will host a reconstruction conference; London says it will not deploy troops to any monitoring force.
• A public dispute over Britain’s role flared after a UK minister said the country played a ‘key role’, drawing rebuttals from Israel’s deputy foreign minister and the US ambassador to Israel, even as Trump envoy Steve Witkoff praised UK contributions and singled out Jonathan Powell.
• The US plan envisions a phased approach that includes a multinational security presence largely from Arab and Muslim countries and Israeli forces staying along Gaza’s border, while longer-term governance ideas such as a proposed ‘Board of Peace’ and a potential role for Tony Blair remain under discussion.