By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-04 21:51:23 | Updated at 2025-03-05 02:19:21
4 hours ago
Arab leaders adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza on Tuesday that would cost US$53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave, in contrast to US President Donald Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” vision.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the proposal, welcomed in subsequent statements by Hamas and criticised by Israel, had been accepted at the closing of a summit in Cairo.
Sisi said at the summit that he was certain Trump would be able to achieve peace in the conflict that has devastated the Gaza Strip.
The major questions that need to be answered about Gaza’s future are who will run the enclave and which countries will provide the billions of dollars needed for reconstruction.
Sisi said Egypt had worked in cooperation with Palestinians on creating an administrative committee of independent, professional Palestinian technocrats entrusted with the governance of Gaza.
The committee would be responsible for the oversight of humanitarian aid and managing the Strip’s affairs for a temporary period, in preparation for the return of the Palestinian Authority (PA), he said.
