US President Donald Trump has flown to Washington, ending his visit to the Middle East, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
Footage broadcast by Arab television shows Trump boarding his plane “Air Force One“ in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
It marked the end of his one-day tour of the region, during which he delivered several speeches on ending the war in Gaza and calling for a new beginning for peace in the Middle East.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned of the continuing threat from the Palestinian militant group "Hamas" after a ceasefire in the Gaza war, Agence France-Presse reported.
In the coming weeks and months, there will be terrorist attacks and destabilization, Macron said yesterday before leaving the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he participated in the signing ceremony of the agreement between "Hamas" and Israel.
"I am still worried because we know how things work with terrorist groups", Macron replied when asked by a journalist if he feared that "Hamas" will fill the power vacuum in the Gaza Strip.
"You can't dismantle a terrorist group with thousands of fighters, with all these tunnels and weapons, overnight" he added.
Macron called for strict international monitoring of the situation in Gaza.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed yesterday's "historic day" after key countries agreed to US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza and said Britain could play a key role in monitoring compliance with the ceasefire, PA Media and DPA reported.
Starmer was in Sharm el-Sheikh to attend the signing of the agreement by the US president and mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, after all 20 remaining living Israeli hostages were released by "Hamas". Representatives from Israel and Hamas did not attend the summit.
"What happens next is really important and that's why I've been discussing with leaders all day what role we can play," Starmer said.
"And we, particularly the UK, I think we can play a role in monitoring the ceasefire, but also in dismantling the Hamas structures and handing over their weapons, building on our experience in Northern Ireland," the British prime minister said.
"So today the question now shifts to how we implement the agreement and how we make sure it's implemented. It's very important that we focus on that. "We must not make any mistakes now," Starmer said.
He said he had not applied for a role on the Gaza committee to be chaired by Trump and that "others should decide" whether former Prime Minister Tony Blair should be involved.
Blair was among those queuing to shake the US leader's hand in Egypt and appeared to have the support of the Palestinian Authority after meeting its vice president on Sunday.
Starmer also held a series of meetings with leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh as they waited for Trump to arrive from Israel to sign the Gaza peace plan, the DPA reported.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful said he was counting on the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to to play no role in the Gaza Strip in the future, DPA reported.
"Hamas" must be disarmed and no longer have political influence, the minister said last night on German public broadcaster A R De. "And the Palestinians will have the task of giving up this organization," Wadeful pointed out.
He noted that "Hamas" means "pure terror". The minister added, however, that "Hamas" is also an ideology. People are driven to radicalism when they have no prospects for the future, he said. "That is why we must now open the way for the Palestinians to live there, so that they have a chance one day to have their own state".
He said that the prerequisite for this was that the Palestinians emancipated themselves from the militant group and found a new form of cooperation.
Wadeful said that there was a historic moment that meant much more than a ceasefire. For the first time, he said, everyone in the region was committed to the goal of achieving peaceful coexistence.
Arab countries have withdrawn their support for "Hamas" and have offered the prospect of an understanding with Israel.
Now, according to the minister, "for the first time there is a situation in which Israel and its neighbors want the same thing, namely to live together in peace, security and reconciliation".
"US President Donald Trump made a decisive contribution to the agreement on the Gaza Strip. And Germany now calls on him to continue his efforts to start negotiations between Russia and Ukraine", Wadeful also said during a meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart Georg Georgiev in Sofia.
The German government has "high expectations of the US administration, as President Trump has shown that he is interested in concluding peace agreements in different parts of the world", the German foreign minister said.
Germany is ready to support Trump in such a peace initiative, Wadeful added. "It is worth making every effort to make a new attempt in Ukraine now, before a larger-scale war breaks out there", the minister added.
The escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine to military clashes will continue until an independent Palestinian state is created in accordance with UN resolutions, said Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, TASS reported.
"The release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners is, of course, a good deed, but this will not solve anything. Until a full-fledged Palestinian state is created in accordance with the well-known UN resolutions, nothing will change. The war will continue. "Everyone understands this," he wrote in English on his page on the social network "Ex".
Several hundred people gathered yesterday in the center of Berlin and in Munich to celebrate the release of hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist organization "Hamas" in the Gaza Strip, DPA reported.
Earlier yesterday, "Hamas" handed over the remaining 20 living hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross. They were returned to Israel after 738 days in captivity.
The freed hostages underwent medical examinations, took a shower and were given new clothes before being reunited with their loved ones.
According to estimates by the Berlin police, around 500 people attended the "Return Home" rally in the late afternoon yesterday. Many wore yellow ribbons on their lapels as a symbol of solidarity with the people kidnapped by "Hamas".
A singer took to the stage and the famous Berlin rabbi Yehuda Teichtal danced during the event.
The German Commissioner for Anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, and the president of the German-Israeli Association, Volker Beck, gave short speeches on the occasion of the return of the hostages.
Around 300 people attended the rally in Munich under the slogan "We will dance again!" in front of the synagogue in the southern German city. Many of the participants carried Israeli flags, and some hugged each other.
After the release of the last 20 surviving hostages, the city of Munich took down the Israeli flag that had been raised on the city hall.
The flag was raised there as a sign of solidarity after the deadly attack by "Hamas" against Israel on October 7, 2023, DPA reported.
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Oct 14, 2025 04:37 854