Egypt counts on Trump to end Gaza war: Foreign minister

CAIRO – 25 September 2025: Egypt said it is counting on US President Donald Trump and his efforts to end the war in Gaza, ensure sufficient humanitarian aid reaches the population, and launch reconstruction while guaranteeing that Palestinians remain on their land.

Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty made the remarks during a meeting on Wednesday with US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Their talks focused on developments in Gaza following Tuesday’s US-Arab-Islamic summit.

At the summit, Trump met Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, representing President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, alongside UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, and leaders from Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, Pakistan, and Indonesia to discuss the war.

“We want to end the war in Gaza. We’re going to end it. Maybe we can end it right now,” Trump told reporters at the start of the meeting.

'Trump 21-Point Plan'

Witkoff, who attended, outlined what he called “the Trump 21-point plan for peace in the Middle East, in Gaza,” saying he expected “some sort of breakthrough … in the coming days.”

Speaking at the Concordia Summit in New York on Wednesday, he described Trump’s meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders as “very productive,” noting that their plan addresses both Israeli concerns and those of “all the neighbors in the region.”

President Sisi later praised “the proposals” that Trump presented during the summit as “an important foundation upon which we can build further in the coming period to achieve peace.”

“I appreciate the efforts of the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, to stop the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip in particular, and his pursuit of peace in the Middle East at large,” Sisi said in a social media post.

Since the outbreak of the war in October 2023, the Israeli army has killed more than 65,400 people, displaced most of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble.

Ongoing strikes and restrictions on aid have also pushed the territory into famine.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, 440 people, including 147 children, have died from severe malnutrition and starvation.

A UN-backed food security analysis in August officially confirmed famine in Gaza City, home to nearly half of the enclave’s 2.2 million population, the first such declaration since the war began.

Israel, which has recently intensified its bombardment of Gaza City and has ordered its nearly one million residents to evacuate, is also facing allegations of genocide following a UN report last week.

Meanwhile, the US continues to back Israel despite widespread international condemnation of the unrelenting strikes and the dire humanitarian situation.

Washington last week cast its sixth veto at the UN Security Council, blocking a resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, unrestricted aid access, and the release of captives held in the enclave.

The Trump administration is also seeking congressional approval for nearly $6 billion in arms sales to Israel, including 30 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, almost doubling its current fleet, according to American and Israeli reports.