Egypt has completed a Gaza reconstruction plan to guarantee Palestinians stay on their ground, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Sunday. It will be tabled during an emergency Arab summit in Cairo on Tuesday as Arab nations organize a diplomatic initiative to counter US President Donald Trump’s widely condemned plan for Gaza’s future.
Trump’s proposal, announced Feb. 4 during a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire, entailed US control over Gaza and relocation of Palestinians an abandonment of a long-standing American commitment to a two-state solution. The scheme has been outrightly rejected by Arab countries and universally condemned by Palestinians.
Abdelatty stressed Egypt’s determination to garner international support and financing for the rebuilding of Gaza, and pointed to Europe as the key player in funding the process. “We will have serious negotiations with major donor countries after the plan is adopted by the coming Arab Summit,” he said in a joint press conference with EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica.
The Egyptian minister also called on the European Union to exert “maximum pressure” on all sides, especially Israel, to maintain the ceasefire agreement. The first 42-day stage of the truce ran out over the weekend, with Israel backing a US-initiated extension over Ramadan and Passover. Hamas has refused to extend the first stage and insists on going directly to the second stage, where all hostages will be released and hostilities brought to a more lasting end.
In the meantime, Israel has denied entry to aid trucks into Gaza amid escalating tensions regarding the ceasefire. Abdelatty criticized the bargaining with aid, reasserting Egypt’s solidarity with the initial ceasefire conditions.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will convene an emergency meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to push Arab diplomacy in the world following Tuesday’s summit.