Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plane overshot the runway at Egypt‘s Sharm el-Sheikh airport and hovered over the Red Sea region amid media reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was going to attend Monday’s Gaza summit.

The state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Erdogan’s TRK1 jet “crossed the approach path to Sharm el-Sheikh and remained for a time over the Red Sea” before eventually landing at the airport and being welcomed by low-level Egyptian ministers.

Several flight tracking websites stopped receiving updates from the Boeing 747 plane at 10:34 GMT while it was still en route to the airport.

As of 14:00 GMT, some sites still show the jet as being in the air despite landing hours ago.

Earlier on Monday, several news outlets reported that following a last minute request by US President Donald Trump, Netanyahu was also expected to attend the Gaza summit.

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However, Netanyahu’s office later said that he would not be making the trip because of the Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah holiday that begins tonight. Israeli leaders historically avoid travel on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays, except under extraordinary circumstances.

Netanyahu’s office thanked Trump for the invitation and praised his “efforts to expand the circle of peace – peace through strength”.

Initially, it was unclear how Netanyahu would have been received by several of the visiting heads of state, given that they do not officially recognise Israel.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto are all scheduled to attend the summit, along with ministers from Kuwait and Oman. None of the six countries officially recognise Israel.

CNN Turk reported that amid the reports of Netanyahu’s inclusion, several of the visiting delegations announced they would not attend and only reversed course when his office announced his non-attendance.

Meanwhile, a senior Turkish state official told CNN that Turkish authorities had directly reached out to the US and urged them to reverse the decision.

Monday’s summit comes days after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire agreement to “end the war” on Gaza and exchange prisoners.

The ceasefire deal marks the first phase of the US’s so-called “peace plan”, with further stages to be negotiated at a later date.

These are expected to include the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas, and the deployment of international troops in the territory.

Neither Hamas, Israel, nor the mediators have clarified the timeline for these talks.

The war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise assault on Israel, citing decades of occupation, increased Israeli violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque, the 16-year blockade on Gaza, and the mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.

Since then, Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 245,000 Palestinians and decimated most of Gaza’s infrastructure – including homes, schools, universities, mosques, churches, public spaces and health centres.

Recent reports, even those based on Israeli military intelligence data, indicated that more than 80 percent of those killed through to May of this year were civilians.