SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — The U.S. and Egyptian presidents are chairing a gathering of world leaders dubbed “Summit for Peace” on Monday to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal.

Israel and Hamas have no direct contacts and were not expected to attend Monday’s summit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not travel to the venue because of a Jewish holiday, his office said. President Donald Trump headed to Egypt after a stop in Israel.

Israel has rejected any role in Gaza for the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, whose leader, Mahmoud Abbas, arrived in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday afternoon, ahead of the gathering.

The summit comes as Hamas released 20 remaining living Israeli hostages and Israel started to free hundreds of Palestinians from its prisons, crucial steps under the ceasefire that began on Friday.

But major questions remain unanswered over what happens next, raising the risk of a slide back into war — even as the world pushes for peace.

A new page

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s office said the summit aims to “end the war” in Gaza and “usher in a new page of peace and regional stability” in line with Trump’s vision.

In Israel, Trump urged the country's lawmakers to work toward peace. To the Palestinians, he said it was time to concentrate on building.

Israel and Hamas came under pressure from the United States, Arab countries and Turkey to agree on the ceasefire's first phase negotiated in Qatar, through mediators.

Ahead of the gathering, Egypt’s foreign minister said it was also crucial that Israel and Hamas fully implement the first phase of the deal so that the parties, with international backing, can begin negotiations on the second phase.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the success of Trump’s vision for Mideast peace will depend on his continued commitment to the process, including applying pressure on the parties, engagement and “even deployment on the ground,” with international forces expected to carry out peacekeeping duties in the next phase.

“We need American engagement, even deployment on the ground, to identify the mission, task and mandate of this force,” Abdelatty told The Associated Press.

Directly tackling the remaining issues in depth is unlikely at the gathering, expected to last about two hours. El-Sissi and Trump are expected to issue a joint statement after it ends.

Under the first phase, Israeli troops pulled back from some parts of Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to return home from areas they were forced to evacuate. Aid groups are preparing to bring in large quantities of aid kept out of the territory for months.

Critical challenges ahead

The next phase of the deal will have to tackle disarming Hamas, creating a post-war government for Gaza and the extent of Israel's withdrawal from the territory. Trump’s plan also stipulates that regional and international partners will work to develop the core of a new Palestinian security force.

Abdelatty said the international force needs a U.N. Security Council resolution to endorse its deployment and mandate as a peacekeeping force.

He said Hamas will have no role in the transitional period in Gaza. A 15-member committee of Palestinian technocrats, with no affiliation to any Palestinian factions and vetted by Israel, will govern day to day affairs in Gaza. The committee would receive support and supervision from the “Board of Peace” proposed by Trump to oversee the implementation of the phases of his plan, Abdelatty said.

“We are counting on Trump to keep the implementation of this plan for all its phases,” he told AP.

Another major issue is raising funds for rebuilding Gaza. The World Bank, and Egypt's postwar plan, estimate reconstruction and recovery needs in Gaza at $53 billion. Egypt plans to host a future reconstruction conference.

A state function

The summit in Egypt is likely to see world leaders praise Trump's push for the ceasefire. For his part, el-Sissi is almost certainly relieved that plans to depopulate the Gaza Strip have been ditched.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani are attending. Turkey, which hosted Hamas political leaders for years, played a key role in bringing about the ceasefire agreement.

King Abdullah of Jordan is in Sharm el-Sheikh. His country, alongside Egypt, will train the new Palestinian security force.

Germany, one of Israel’s strongest international backers and top suppliers of military equipment, plans to be represented by Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He has expressed concern over Israel's conduct of the war and its plan for a military takeover of Gaza.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who also is attending, has he said will pledge 20 million British pounds (27 million dollars) to help provide water and sanitation for Gaza and that Britain will host a three-day conference on Gaza’s reconstruction and recovery. Speaking in Egypt, Starmer said Britain was ready to “play its full part” in ensuring that the current ceasefire results in a lasting peace.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, European Union President António Costa and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also are attending.

Iran, a main backer of Hamas, is not attending the summit in Egypt as the Islamic Republic finds itself at one of its weakest moments since its 1979 revolution. Iranian officials have portrayed the ceasefire deal as a victory for Hamas.

The deal, however, has underlined Iran’s waning influence in the region and revived concerns over possible renewed conflict with Israel as Iran still struggles to recover from the 12-day war in June.

The venue

Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, has been host to many peace negotiations in the past decades.

The town was briefly occupied by Israel for a year in 1956. After Israel withdrew, a United Nations peacekeeping force was stationed there until 1967, when Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the peacekeepers to leave, a move that precipitated the Six-Day War that year.

Sharm el-Sheikh and the rest of the Sinai Peninsula were returned to Egypt in 1982, following a 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Though now more known for luxury beach resorts, dive sites and desert tours, Sharm el-Sheikh has also hosted many peace summits and rounds of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians under President Hosni Mubarak, ousted in 2011, as well as other international conferences.

Monday’s gathering is the first peace summit under el-Sissi.

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El Deeb contributed from Cairo.