How Trump's letter to El Sisi pushed Gaza truce deal across the finish line

Frantic and tense meetings in Sharm El Sheikh preceded announcement that an agreement was reached

Palestinian children celebrate following the announcement of a first-phase ceasefire deal in Gaza. AP

Cairo was still engulfed in predawn darkness when the private jet carrying the two US envoys and their aides landed in Egypt's capital on Wednesday.

The waiting fleet of black armoured SUVs with tinted windows whisked the party away after quick handshakes and exchanges of pleasantries with the Egyptian officials present to greet them.

The much-heralded arrival in Egypt of Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump's special Middle East Envoy and close friend, and the American leader's son-in-law Jared Kushner, indicated that negotiations that began on Monday in Egypt to end the Gaza war had made enough progress that Washington's senior figures were needed to close the deal.

But the pair were just the messengers in a much more complicated process that, by midnight on Wednesday, produced a deal that could potentially turn the page on one of the darkest and most brutal chapters of the decades-long Palestinian cause.

Israelis celebrate after US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, in Tel Aviv. Reuters

The envoys had a letter from Mr Trump to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, according to sources briefed on the matter. Hassan Rashad, the head of Egypt's powerful spy agency, received the letter from them and quickly handed it in person to the Egyptian leader, who was already up for the dawn prayers and his routine early morning workout, they told The National.

The letter was short, perhaps no more than five lines, according to the sources, and it praised President El Sisi's efforts to end the war in Gaza while containing guarantees that his administration would not waver in implementing the entire 20-point Gaza peace plan he presented last week to end the war.

"He said he is coming to Egypt to end the war and that his emissaries are instructed to end the war and let peace prevail," said one of the sources, who was briefed on the letter's content but did not actually see it. "He said he wants to end the war and that he looked to El Sisi to make it happen."

By late morning, a confident and somewhat cheerful Mr El Sisi told a police graduation ceremony at Egypt's New Administrative Capital in the desert east of Cairo that he had "heard good things" from the Gaza peace negotiations being held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh.

He did not elaborate but added: “They (the US envoys) have come with a strong will, message and mandate from President Trump to end the war in this round of negotiations.

Israeli soldiers and their tanks near the border with the Gaza Strip. Getty Images

“I invite President Trump to attend the signing ceremony in Egypt if a deal is signed,” said the Egyptian leader, whose country had for months been unsuccessfully mediating to end the Gaza war alongside Qatar – another close American ally – the US and Nato member Turkey.

His invitation to the American leader was unexpected, and many were baffled by it, since the Egyptian leader's relations with Mr Trump have been fraught ever since the US leader floated the idea of evicting Gaza's residents to make way for a glitzy resort in the Palestinian territory.

That, however, did not stop Mr El Sisi from repeatedly stating in recent months that only President Trump had what it takes to end the war and bring peace to the Middle East.

Before the day was out

It was barely 12 hours after Mr El Sisi's address when Mr Trump announced that a deal had been reached on the first phase of his 20-point plan and that he intended to visit the Middle East this weekend.

US President Donald Trump in the State Dining Room at the White House. AP

The time between Mr El Sisi's address in late morning and Mr Trump's announcement in the White House saw frantic and intense bilateral, trilateral and quadrilateral talks in Sharm El Sheikh taking place in a rush to get a deal.

By around midnight Cairo time, the talks finally bore fruit, producing a deal that, if fully implemented, would end one of the Middle East's most brutal and deadliest wars in the modern era.

"It was like a race against the clock. The Americans wanted a deal before the day was out," said another source familiar with the negotiations, held at a state-owned complex of villas and separate conference rooms and lounges at a remote part of Sharm El Sheikh.

The mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey spent considerable time striving to allay Hamas's fears that it was set to lose its bargaining leverage when it released the 48 hostages it was holding during the first phase of the deal.

Hamas's negotiators, said the sources, argued that without that leverage, there was no guarantee Israel would negotiate the rest of the Trump plan in good faith, or even negotiate at all.

A billboard showing Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi at Sharm El Sheikh. AP

The mediators sought to persuade Hamas that what was on offer was the best deal possible and that they, along with the Trump administration, would ensure the plan is fully implemented, said the sources.

The Hamas negotiators were tense and dismayed, explained the sources, but had no choice other than to take the assurances of the mediators at face value.

At the top of Hamas's concerns is the key issue of disarmament, which it refuses to do, instead wanting its offensive weapons stored by Egypt. It's also concerned about the future of postwar Gaza, with strong reservations about the deployment of an international force in Gaza and the supervisory role of a body led by Mr Trump, which includes former British prime minister Tony Blair.

Palestinian political sources close to the factions represented in Sharm El Sheikh said the main factor behind Hamas's agreement was “the guarantees” from the US, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey that Israeli troops would not return after withdrawal from specific areas in Gaza.

“What happened was the best available option. If Israel abides by it, the Palestinians will do that too,” said one of the sources.

Palestinians celebrating in Khan Younis following news of the ceasefire deal. AFP

An official from the Islamic Jihad, a Hamas-allied militant group, noted the difficulties ahead in the negotiations, saying the question of disarmament and governing Gaza could only be decided by the Palestinian people, not factions.

"No faction is authorised to negotiate on this matter; these are rights that belong to the Palestinian people, who alone have the authority to decide on them,” he told The National. “Our position was to agree to proceed with the prisoner exchange and enter negotiations — this is the first phase. Therefore, we have not discussed the issue of weapons or other matters yet.”

The negotiators reminded the Hamas negotiators of some of the grim facts produced by two years of war, which, they argued, made reaching a deal, even an imperfect one, the correct way to go, added the sources.

Hamas has been significantly weakened after two years of relentless Israeli strikes, its negotiators were told. Its influence in Gaza has also waned because of the high death toll among Palestinians – more than 67,000, the majority of whom are women and children – and because starvation is affecting most of the two million people living in the enclave.