President Donald Trump arrived in Egypt on Monday for a global summit on Gaza's future as he tries to advance peace in the Middle East after visiting Israel to celebrate a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Hamas.
The whirlwind trip, which included a speech at the Knesset in Jerusalem earlier in the day, comes at a fragile moment of hope for ending two years of war between Israel and Hamas.
More than two dozen countries are expected to be represented at the summit, which Trump is hosting along with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited but declined, with his office saying it was too close to a Jewish holiday.
Despite unanswered questions about next steps in Gaza, which has been devastated during the conflict, Trump is determined to seize an opportunity to chase an elusive regional harmony.
“You’ve won,” he told Israeli lawmakers at the Knesset, which welcomed him as a hero. “Now it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
Trump promised to help rebuild Gaza, and he urged Palestinians to “turn forever from the path of terror and violence.”
“After tremendous pain and death and hardship," he said, "now is the time to concentrate on building their people up instead of trying to tear Israel down.”
Trump even made a gesture to Iran, where he bombed three nuclear sites during the country's brief war with Israel earlier this year, by saying “the hand of friendship and cooperation is always open.”