The Palestinian Authority (PA) has not been invited to participate in the Sharm el-Sheikh summit on Gaza on Monday, when world leaders from 20 countries will attend under US-Egyptian chairmanship, a senior Palestinian official has confirmed to The New Arab's Arabic edition on Sunday.
The Palestinian leadership reached out to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who extended the invitations, and asked him to receive President Mahmoud Abbas privately "to reaffirm that the Palestinian leadership remains the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people", the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
However, the source said, Sisi did not respond to the request.
According to the same source, Cairo decided not to invite the PA because it was not included in US President Donald Trump's postwar plan for Gaza.
Egypt announced on Saturday that it would host the international summit on Monday to discuss the future of the ceasefire in Gaza and arrangements to end the war, which has devastated the enclave. The meeting will be co-chaired by Presidents Sisi and Trump.
Among those confirmed to attend are UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is also expected to participate, alongside Jordan's King Abdullah II, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
According to Axios, the United States significantly expanded the list of invitees to include Spain, Japan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Hungary, India, El Salvador, Cyprus, Greece, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Canada.
The outlet also reported that Iran had been invited.
Foreign ministers or leaders from Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Indonesia are expected to attend.
Both Israel and Hamas will be absent from the summit.
Hamas official Husam Badran told AFP that the group would "not participate" in the ceasefire agreement signing on Monday, while Axios quoted a US official saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not expected to attend.
Meanwhile, Hussein al-Sheikh, deputy president of the Palestinian Authority and head of the PLO Executive Committee, met on Sunday in Amman with former UK prime minister Tony Blair, who now serves as deputy head of the so-called "Peace Council for Gaza" established under Trump's plan.
A Palestinian source told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the meeting, held around 14:00 local time (12:00 GMT) in the Jordanian capital, was an "exploratory" discussion about the PA's potential return to Gaza and its future role there.
"The meeting will focus on how and when the PA could return, and what responsibilities it might assume," the source said. "There is talk of a one-year transitional phase, and the leadership wants to know whether it will have a role in that stage and whether it will be represented in the reconstruction committee. The answers to these questions will signal what kind of role the PA might play in the next phase."
The source added that it was still too early to talk about any clear political role for the PA in Gaza, noting that discussions currently revolve around the possible deployment of Palestinian police units to maintain internal security, since there is currently no functioning police force in the Strip.