Prime Minister Keir Starmer hails ‘historic day’ as Gaza peace plan is signed

Sir Keir Starmer hailed a “historic day” as key countries agreed President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan and said the UK could play a key role in monitoring the ceasefire.

The Prime Minister was in Sharm El Sheikh to see the US president and fellow negotiators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey sign the agreement after all 20 of the remaining live Israeli hostages were released by Hamas.

Israel and Hamas were not at the summit.

Starmer said: “What happens tomorrow really matters, and that’s why, what I’ve been discussing with leaders all day is, what part can we play?

“And we, the United Kingdom in particular I think, can play a part in monitoring the ceasefire, but also decommissioning the capability of Hamas and their weaponry drawing on our experience in Northern Ireland.

“So the question today has already moved to, how do we implement how do we make sure this moves forward? It’s really important we keep that focus. We mustn’t have any missteps now.”

The PM said he had not put himself forward for a role on the peace board for Gaza to be chaired by Trump, and it was for “others to decide” if former prime minister Sir Tony Blair should be involved.

Blair was among those who queued up to shake hands with the US leader in Egypt and appeared to have the backing of the Palestinian Authority after meeting its deputy chief on Sunday.

But Trump suggested Blair’s involvement on the board that would supervise the governance of Gaza under the plan was still subject to approval.

As he travelled to the Middle East, the US president told reporters: “I like Tony, I have always liked Tony. But I want to find out that he is an acceptable choice to everybody.”

Trump suggested on Monday he might expand the board.

Sir Keir held a series of meetings with leaders in Sharm El Sheikh as they waited for Mr Trump to arrive from Israel, where he met families of hostages and addressed the parliament, saying: “Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change.”

The Israeli hostages were released throughout Monday, after Israel agreed, in exchange, to start freeing more than 1,900 prisoners and detainees as part of the ceasefire deal.

The prisoners include 250 people serving life sentences after being convicted of attacks on Israelis.

Tens of thousands of Israelis watched the hostage transfers at public screenings across the country.

In Tel Aviv, families and friends of the hostages broke into wild cheers as television channels announced the first group was in the hands of the Red Cross.

The freed hostages, all men, were later reunited with their families and footage released by Israeli authorities showed tearful reunions, including old twins Gali and Ziv Berman, 28, embracing as they were reunited.

The 20-point plan set out by the US president calls for Israel to maintain an open-ended military presence inside Gaza along its border with Israel.

An international force, comprised largely of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, would be responsible for security inside the enclave.

The Israeli military has said it will continue to operate defensively from the roughly 50% of Gaza it still controls after pulling back to the agreed-upon lines.

There are no plans to send British troops to be part of the multinational force that will monitor the truce.