(Reuters) – Egypt holds a summit on the Gaza crisis on Saturday amid growing fears of a wider Middle East war but the absence of a top official from Israel’s main ally the U.S. and some other leaders has dampened expectations for what it can achieve.
The hastily-convened Cairo Peace Summit as the conflict still rages will bring together several Arab and European heads of state and government, alongside foreign ministers.
They will meet as Israel readies a ground assault on Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed 1,400 people. More than 4,100 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s counteroffensive, amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
There was no word as of 1300 GMT on who would represent the U.S., or whether major powers China and Russia would attend.
Egypt has said little about the aims of the gathering, beyond an Oct. 15 statement by the Egyptian presidency that the summit would cover recent developments involving the crisis in Gaza and the future of the Palestinian issue.
“There is no precise overview of the participants so far. Much is still in flux,” said one European source.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will not attend, while there has been no official word on whether French President Emmanuel Macron will go.
Arab countries have voiced anger at Israel’s unprecedented bombardment and siege of Gaza, home to 2.3 million people.
European countries have struggled to settle on a united approach to the crisis, beyond condemning Hamas’s attack, after days of confusion and mixed messaging.
Egypt has been trying to channel humanitarian relief to Gaza through the Rafah crossing, the one access point not controlled by Israel, but aid has piled up on the Egyptian side.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday Egyptians in their millions would reject the forced displacement of Palestinians into Sinai, adding that any such move would turn the Egyptian peninsula into a base for attacks against Israel.
Egypt has said it will not accept any mass displacement of Gazans into Sinai, reflecting Arab fears that Palestinians could again flee or be forced from their homes en masse, as they were during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.
Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Oct. 12 they rejected forcibly displacing Palestinians and that Israel was “imposing collective punishment” on the inhabitants of Gaza by bombing civilians.
Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that rules Gaza, after its fighters crossed the barrier around the enclave on Oct. 7 in the deadliest day in Israel’s 75-year history.
It is widely expected to launch a ground assault.
The summit is scheduled to be opened by the Egyptian president at 10 a.m. Saturday (0700 GMT).
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by William Maclean; Editing by Edmund Blair)
