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US President Donald Trump said he would try to go to Egypt for the signing of a Gaza ceasefire deal, adding that he expected Hamas to free hostages on Monday or Tuesday under the long-sought agreement.Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump said the agreement between Israel and Palestinian militant group had “ended the war in Gaza” and would lead to broader Middle East peace.”We secured the release of all of the remaining hostages, and they should be released on Monday or Tuesday,” Trump told his assembled cabinet secretaries at the White House.But Trump said that the bodies of some of the dead hostages would be “hard to find.” Trump announced plans to travel to the Middle East even before he unveiled the first phase of the peace deal on Wednesday, but said arrangements were still being made for a possible stop in Egypt.”I’m going to try and make a trip over. We’re going to try and get over there, and we’re working on the timing, the exact timing,” Trump said Thursday.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said earlier that he had invited his US counterpart to take part in a “celebration to be held in Egypt” for the agreement for the first phase of a ceasefire.Trump said he also expected to visit Israel, adding that he had been invited to address the Israeli parliament.”They asked me to speak at the Knesset and… I’ve agreed to, if they would like me to, I will do it,” Trump said in response to a question from a reporter.Trump falsely claimed that he would be the first president to do so. The Knesset website lists US presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter among foreign leaders who have addressed the parliament in the past.- ‘Extraordinary phone calls’ -The Republican gave few details about the second phase of the peace deal and the future of Gaza.Trump said “there will be disarming, there will be pullbacks,” in apparent reference to Israel’s demand that Hamas disarm and calls by the Palestinian militant group for Israel to withdraw its forces, but did not elaborate.He added that Gaza would be “slowly redone” and indicated that Arab states with “tremendous wealth” would help it rebuild, as well as possibly taking part in peacekeeping efforts.Trump did not comment on whether he now expected to achieve his long-held dream of winning the Nobel Peace Prize.But his cabinet officials lined up to praise him, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had on Wednesday handed the US president a note during an event saying a deal was imminent.”Frankly, I don’t know of any American president in the modern era that could have made this possible,” Rubio said.Rubio also hinted at the tough negotiations that led to the agreement, which saw Trump pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rally Arab and Muslim states to lean on Hamas.”One day, perhaps the entire story will be told,” Rubio said.”The president had some extraordinary phone calls and meetings that required a high degree of intensity and commitment and made this happen.”

It began with a hastily written note and a whisper. It ended with a Gaza deal long sought by Donald Trump.Something was obviously going on when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made an unexpected appearance during a roundtable at the White House on the left-wing Antifa movement on Wednesday.”By the way, we have Marco Rubio. Marco, come on up here please,” Trump said, beckoning him over to his side of the White House’s State Dining Room. “Anything we should know about the Middle East?”There was. But the scrupulously low-key Rubio was not about to do it in public. “That’s what we’re hoping to talk to you about Mr President, once they leave,” said Rubio, pointing to journalists and eliciting a laugh from the 79-year-old Trump.What followed next was history playing out in real time — an extraordinary moment even for a reality TV star-turned-president with a flair for showmanship.With reporters watching carefully for signs about the progress of the Israel-Hamas peace talks in Egypt, Rubio took a seat vacated by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and briefly gave Trump the thumbs up.The top US diplomat then reached over and took a pen and a White House notepad from Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to his right.While Trump answered a question about “cutting the head off the snake” of Antifa, Rubio scribbled for nearly a minute as Miller leaned over to look.- ‘Very close’ -Rubio then showed the note to Miller, and leaned over to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, seated on Miller’s right. The three of them consulted briefly together before Rubio tore off a sheet of paper.Seconds later, Rubio reached behind the back of US Attorney General Pam Bondi as she answered another reporter’s question, and handed Trump the piece of paper.As the cameras rolled, Trump sat back in his chair and read the note for 10 seconds, with an approving nod.Rubio then got up and went over to Trump and whispered in his ear, with his hand covering his mouth.It was perhaps the most notable presidential whisper since George W. Bush’s chief of staff Andy Card interrupted him during an event at a Florida school to tell him that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.”Ok,” said Trump as Rubio went back to his seat, motioning for reporters to be quiet as they shouted questions. “I was just given a note by the secretary of state saying that we’re very close to a deal in the Middle East and they’re going to need me pretty quickly, so we’ll take a couple more questions.” Reporters could not immediately see what the note said. But photographs, including an AFP picture, later revealed the contents of Rubio’s history-making note to the president.”Very close. We need you to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first,” it said, referring to Trump’s social network.The words “very close” were underlined twice.- ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ -At the end, Rubio stood waiting for Trump, who shook hands with the roundtable attendees on his way out as the clock ticked.Images later shared by the White House showed the urgency of the moment.Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Rubio and Wiles strode purposefully through the Rose Garden colonnade towards the Oval Office as they made the final preparations to announce the deal, in a video posted on social media by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino.Almost exactly two hours after Rubio’s intervention, Trump’s Truth Social finally went out. “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” it proclaimed.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that expanding Israeli settlements threatened a Palestinian state and US-led peace efforts, as France hosted Arab and European ministers hours after a Gaza ceasefire deal was announced. Macron hailed the ceasefire deal as a “great hope” for the region, but said ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank was an “existential threat” to a Palestinian state.It was “not only unacceptable and contrary to international law” but “fuels tensions, violence, and instability”, he said as he presided over the meeting in Paris. “It fundamentally contradicts the American plan and our collective ambition for a peaceful region.”Israel and Hamas earlier agreed a Gaza ceasefire deal to free the remaining living Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group. It is being seen as a major step towards ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe.The deal brokered through indirect talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh came two years after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, which triggered a relentless retaliatory assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza.While Europe has strongly supported the ceasefire efforts led by US President Donald Trump, Washington and several European countries are at odds over whether it is the right moment to recognise a Palestinian state.Macron, in a September 22 speech at the United Nations, recognised a Palestinian state on the heels of similar announcements by Canada, Portugal and the United Kingdom.The Paris meeting brought together the top diplomats of five key Arab states — Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — with European counterparts from France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Turkey and the European Union were also represented.- ‘Unnecessary and harmful’ -Before the ceasefire deal was announced, the Paris meeting had angered Israel, further straining French-Israeli relations in the wake of Macron’s recognition of a Palestinian state.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had in a message on X denounced the “unnecessary and harmful” meeting “concocted behind Israel’s back” at the sensitive moment of the negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh.But France is hoping that backing up its recognition of a Palestinian state can boost the prospects of a two-state solution, which Paris still regards as the sole prospect for long-term regional peace.The agenda at the meeting includes the International Stabilisation Force evoked by Trump as part of his peace plan and support for the Palestinian Authority which runs the occupied West Bank, a French diplomatic source said this week, asking not to be named.”It is essential to act together and get down to work,” said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.Berlin has repeatedly said it disagrees with the move by France and other European countries to recognise a Palestinian state now.

The world’s top conservation body kicked off its world congress Thursday in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi, where it will unveil its updated “red list” of threatened species a day later.Hundreds of participants were meeting at the venue where the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), whose decisions help set the global agenda on environmental protection, will on Friday publish its list ranking plant and animal species from “least concern” to “extinct”.The congress, held every four years, sheds light on the dire state of the world’s biodiversity. An increasing number of animals suffer from the destruction of their natural habitat, climate change, and water, air and soil pollution.According to the United Nations’s expert scientific panel on biodiversity (IPBES), biodiversity has declined every decade in the past 30 to 50 years.In an update to its “red list” last year, the IUCN said that out of the 169,420 species studied, a total of 47,187 were classified as threatened — more than a quarter.The most impacted species were corals and amphibians, with more than 40 percent of each group under threat.- UAE climate diplomacy -The United Arab Emirates, a major oil exporter that also hosted the UN’s annual climate talks in 2023 (known as COP28), is seeking a bigger role in setting the environmental agenda by hosting these events.”The UAE has become a global convening power to bring countries together, bring all stakeholders on discussions that are very vital for our environment,” UAE climate change and environment minister Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak told AFP at the meeting.”This is a platform where conversations can converge,” Al Dahak said of the congress.She called for translating “those conversations into pledges, into actions and into implementation plans”, urging “more implementation plans and actions on the ground”.The IUCN congress last convened in the French city of Marseille in 2021.The meeting revolves around votes on adopting resolutions.Though not legally binding, the resolutions can “shape the international agenda” and “accelerate” work on treaties under discussion, an IUCN source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss the event freely.”The Congress programme reflects the urgency and ambition of our time,” said Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, Secretary General of the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi and IUCN councillor from the West Asia region.IUCN Director General Grethel Aguilar of Costa Rica said the upcoming announcements “reflect the scale of ambition and the real possibility of delivering the solutions we need to build a planet where people and nature thrive together”.- Synthetic biology debate -The most closely watched vote revolves around two competing motions on synthetic biology — a controversial technique widely used in the pharmaceutical industry and agribusiness.It enables scientists to redesign organisms by engineering them to have new abilities.One motion calls for a moratorium on the technology because “genetic engineering of wild species in natural ecosystems, including in protected areas, is not compatible with the practices, values and principles of nature conservation”.A competing motion argues that synthetic biology could complement conservation efforts, and says IUCN policy “should not be interpreted as supporting or opposing synthetic biology, per se”.Organisers expect 10,000 delegates and 5,000 civil society attendees.The IUCN congress describes itself as the “world’s largest and most inclusive nature conservation forum”.Its voting members include government agencies, national and international NGOs, and Indigenous groups.

France on Thursday hosts foreign ministers from Arab and European countries for talks on helping the Palestinians once the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas ends, a meeting that comes hours after the two sides agreed a ceasefire deal.French President Emmanuel Macron will give an introductory address to the gathering from 1500 GMT, the presidency said, after hailing the ceasefire deal as providing “great hope” for the region.Israel and Hamas earlier agreed a Gaza ceasefire deal to free the remaining living Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group. It is being seen as a major step towards ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe.The deal brokered through indirect talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh came two years after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, which triggered a relentless retaliatory assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza.While Europe has strongly supported the ceasefire efforts spearheaded by President Donald Trump, Washington and several European countries are at odds over whether it is the right moment to recognise a Palestinian state.Macron, in a September 22 speech at the United Nations, recognised a Palestinian state on the heels of similar announcements by Canada, Portugal and the United Kingdom.The Paris meeting brings together the top diplomats of five key Arab states — Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — with European counterparts from France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Turkey and the European Union will also be represented.Macron “will reiterate France’s constant mobilisation in favour of a comprehensive political solution by working to prepare for the ‘day after'”, the Elysee said in a statement, adding the president supported the full implementation of Trump’s peace plan.- ‘Unnecessary and harmful’ -Before the ceasefire deal was announced, the Paris meeting had angered Israel, further straining French-Israeli relations in the wake of Macron’s recognition of a Palestinian state, which infuriated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had in a message on X denounced the “unnecessary and harmful” meeting “concocted behind Israel’s back” at the sensitive moment of the negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh.But France is hoping that backing up its recognition of a Palestinian state can boost the prospects of a two-state solution, which Paris still regards as the sole prospect for long-term regional peace.The agenda at the meeting includes the International Stabilisation Force evoked by Trump as part of his peace plan and support for the Palestinian Authority which runs the occupied West Bank, a French diplomatic source said this week, asking not to be named.”It is essential to act together and get down to work,” said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.Berlin has repeatedly said it disagrees with the move by France and other European countries to recognise a Palestinian state now.