Egypt has said it is working on a "comprehensive vision" for the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip that guarantees Palestinians the right to stay on their land, unlike the proposal put forward by US President Donald Trump. The Egyptian foreign ministry said it hoped to cooperate with the Trump administration to reach "a just settlement of the Palestinian cause". It followed Trump's meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday, where he doubled down on his plan for the US to take over Gaza and permanently move the two million Palestinians living there to Jordan, Egypt and other locations. Abdullah said every Arab state rejected the idea, and that Egypt would present an alternative. The UN has warned that any forced displacement of the territory's population would be illegal under international law and "tantamount to ethnic cleansing". It comes amid growing concern that the fighting in Gaza could resume, after Israel's prime minister warned Hamas it would end the ceasefire if the Palestinian armed group "does not return our hostages by Saturday". Benjamin Netanyahu issued the ultimatum after Hamas said it was postponing freeing more hostages until further notice, claiming Israel had violated the terms of the ceasefire deal. Sitting alongside King Abdullah at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said there had been "great progress" on his proposal to take over Gaza. "With the United States being in control of that piece of land... you can have stability in the Middle East for the first time," he told reporters. "And the Palestinians, or the people that live now in Gaza, will be living beautifully in another location." When pressed by the reporters to comment on the plan to force the Palestinians to relocate to Jordan, King Abdullah said: "We have to keep in mind that there is a plan from Egypt and the Arab countries." Later, the king wrote on X that he had "reiterated Jordan's steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank" during the meeting, adding: "This is the unified Arab position." Trump had said before the meeting that he could "conceivably" halt aid to Jordan and Egypt if they refused to cooperate with his plan and take in displaced Gazans. Not long after the king's remarks, Egypt's foreign ministry said it hoped to cooperate with the Trump administration to reach "a just settlement of the Palestinian cause". "In this context, Egypt affirms its intention to present a comprehensive vision for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, in a manner that ensures the Palestinian people stay on their land, and in line with the legitimate and legal rights of this people," it added, without giving any details. President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi also told Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a phone call on Tuesday that the reconstruction of Gaza must happen "without displacing Palestinians", his office said. It was not immediately clear when Egypt would present its alternative Gaza plan. Cairo is due to host an emergency Arab summit to discuss the "serious" developments for Palestinians on 27 February, while King Abdullah said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had invited Arab leaders to Riyadh at an unspecified date. Sisi was also given an open invitation by Trump to visit the White House during a phone call earlier this month. However, Egyptian security sources told Reuters news agency on Wednesday that Sisi would not travel to Washington if the agenda included Trump's plan. Abeer Barakat, a Palestinian teacher in Gaza City, told the BBC she believed Trump's plan was "impossible to achieve" but that it had infuriated people. "We worry that Jordan and Egypt are going to bend from Trump's threats," she said. Palestinians fear a repeat of the Nakba - the Arabic word for "catastrophe" - when hundreds of thousands fled or were driven from their homes before and during the war that followed the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Many of those refugees ended up in Gaza, where they and their descendants make up three quarters of the population. Another 900,000 registered refugees live in the occupied West Bank, while 3.4 million others live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, according to the UN. Asked by reporters on Monday if the US would force Palestinians to leave Gaza, Trump replied that "they're all going to want to leave". He also said in an interview that Gazans would have no right of return because he was "talking about building a permanent place for them". The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. More than 48,220 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times, almost 70% of buildings are estimated to be damaged or destroyed, the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter. — BBC
