Egypt to offer Trump Gaza reconstruction plan without Palestinian displacement

(LONDON) — Egypt plans to “present a comprehensive vision for the reconstruction” of the Gaza Strip that does not require the displacement of Palestinians, the country’s foreign ministry said.

Cairo said it will work with President Donald Trump’s administration “to achieve a comprehensive and just peace in the region by reaching a just settlement of the Palestinian cause that upholds the rights of the region’s peoples,” the statement posted to X on Tuesday said.

Cairo’s reconstruction proposal will ensure “the Palestinian people remain in their homeland” and will align “with their legitimate and legal rights,” the statement said.

Any solution should “avoid endangering the gains of peace in the region” and address “the root cause of the conflict by ending Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and implementing the two-state solution as the only path to stability and coexistence among the region’s peoples,” the ministry added.

Egypt’s proposal comes as Arab states scramble to respond to Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to “take over” and “clean out” Gaza, relocating its 2 million people and reconstructing the territory devastated by the war between Israel and Hamas since October 2023.

A source told ABC News on Wednesday that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will meet in Riyadh to discuss how to address Trump’s Gaza displacement proposal. The source said the talks will likely take place later next week before the Arab Summit in Cairo on Feb. 27.

Trump has suggested that regional partners like Jordan, Egypt or Saudi Arabia should rehome displaced Palestinians, whom he said would not be allowed to return to Gaza. Regional leaders have rejected the proposal.

The president said on Monday that he could “conceivably” withhold billions of dollars in aid to Egypt and Jordan to compel them into agreeing to host Palestinians displaced from Gaza. However, less than 24 hours later, while hosting King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House, Trump said, “I don’t have to threaten with money.”

“I don’t have to threaten that, I don’t think. I think we’re above that. I do believe we’re above that,” Trump said Tuesday. The president’s comments came after Abdullah announced in the Oval Office that Jordan would take in 2,000 sick children from Gaza, but didn’t commit to anything beyond that.

Abdullah told Trump during a meeting at the White House on Tuesday that Arab states were putting together their own post-war plan for Gaza. The king will join other Arab leaders at a special summit in Egypt later this month to discuss Cairo’s counterproposal to Trump’s resettlement plan.

The king later said he reiterated to Trump Jordan’s “steadfast position” against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza. “This is the unified Arab position,” he said in a post to X.

Saudi Arabia has also pushed back on Trump’s controversial plan, with its foreign ministry saying last week there would be no normalization deal with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“The establishment of the Palestinian state is a firm, unwavering position,” the ministry said in a statement posted on X.

De facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “has affirmed this position in a clear and explicit manner that does not allow for any interpretation under any circumstances,” the statement added.

Hamas, meanwhile, rejected Trump’s plan as “absurd.” In a statement, the group said the president’s comments “reflect a profound ignorance about Palestine and the region. Gaza is not a piece of real estate to be bought and sold; it is an inseparable part of our occupied Palestinian land.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threw his weight behind Trump’s proposal, describing it as “a totally different vision, a much better one for the state of Israel.”

Netanyahu — who met with Trump at the White House last week — described the plan as “revolutionary, creative — and we’re discussing it. He is very determined to carry it out. It opens up many opportunities for us.”

The prime minister’s security cabinet met for several hours on Tuesday to discuss Trump’s Gaza plan. An Israeli official told ABC News that all members expressed support for what they called Trump’s “revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza.”

Netanyahu and his cabinet also discussed Hamas’ Monday announcement that it would delay the planned release of a group of Israeli hostages. Hamas said the delay was a response to alleged repeated Israeli violations of the ceasefire deal signed in January.

The delay prompted Trump’s threat that “all hell is going to break out” if all remaining Gaza hostages were not released by Saturday at noon. The Israeli official said the country’s security cabinet was in full support of Trump’s remarks.

“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will be terminated, and the [Israel Defense Forces] will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

Trump later told reporters of the deadline, “It’s going to be a big moment. We’ll see what happens. I don’t expect much happening with these people, but we’ll see what happens.”

ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy, Morgan Winsor, Sarah Kolinovsky, Will Gretsky, Joe Simonetti and Jordana Miller contributed to this report.

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