Egypt’s USD 53 bn Gaza reconstruction plan receives Arab backing: Arab leaders endorsed Egypt’s USD 53 bn reconstruction plan for Gaza during yesterday’s emergency Arab League summit held in Cairo. Egypt and a handful of its Arab neighbours spent a month formulating the plan as a counter to US President Donald Trump’s plan to displace Gaza’s citizens against the backdrop of a faltering ceasefire agreement.

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The plan at a glance: Under the five-year plan — outlined in a 112-page document — some 400k housing units, an airport, a commercial port, beach hotels, and a technology hub will be constructed, Al Qahera News wrote. It will include urban areas that utilize renewable energy, renovated agricultural lands, and industrial zones. The reconstruction process will happen across two phases — the USD 20 bn first phase will take two years to complete and the second USD 30 bn phase will be done in two and a half years.

A USD 3 bn “recovery phase” will precede the reconstruction process, during which rubble and unexploded weapons will be removed and temporary housing will be provided. That phase will also include the restoration of partially damaged residential buildings.

Who will be taking charge? A non-factional Palestinian committee will oversee the Strip for a transitional six-month period. Meanwhile, Egypt and Jordan will help train security forces in Gaza and the proposal of having a UN-backed international peacekeeping mission on ground remains under consideration.

What committee? “Egypt has worked, in cooperation with our Palestinian brothers, to form an administrative committee of independent Palestinian professionals and technocrats to manage Gaza,” President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said yesterday in his opening address (watch, runtime: 5:44:15). The Gaza Administration Committee will oversee relief operations and Gaza’s affairs on a temporary basis, laying the groundwork for the return of Palestinian Authority control, the president noted.

Gazans will stay on their land throughout: Temporary housing will be made available for the people of Gaza throughout the reconstruction process, according to the plan.

It all hinges on the three-phase ceasefire agreement unfolding as planned: Egypt’s plan calls on the international community to support the efforts of Egypt, Qatar, and the US to ensure the ceasefire agreement holds. The crumbling of the agreement would hinder the reconstruction process.

The future of the agreement is up in the air: Earlier this week, Israel started blocking all humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza strip in a bid to pressure Hamas into accepting changes to the already agreed on ceasefire agreement.

Another ceasefire agreement? The Egyptian plan proposes a medium-term ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which would mark a transitional period during which the two sides would build trust and eventually put an end to all unilateral actions.

Who’s paying? A special fund will be set up for the reconstruction of Gaza, El Sisi said, calling on the leaders in attendance, as well as the regional and international communities, to contribute to it.

Wasting no time: Cairo will host a Gaza reconstruction conference in April in partnership with the Palestinian state and the United Nations.

What we got out of the summit: Arab leaders shared a a 23-point joint statement following the summit, where they backed Egypt’s plan and pledged to provide the needed financial and political support needed, rejected the forced displacement of Palestinians, and called for the necessity of parties respecting the three-phase ceasefire agreement

The UN is on board: “I welcome and strongly endorse the Arab-led initiative to mobilise support for Gaza’s reconstruction, clearly expressed in this summit … the UN stands ready to fully cooperate in this endeavour,” UN secretary general António Guterres, said.

ISRAEL, WASHINGTON, AND HAMAS’ REACTIONS-

Israel’s Foreign Ministry deemed the proposal ineffective, noting it “failed to address” what happened on 7 October, in a statement on X. The statement voiced its support for Trump’s vision, necessitating the displacement of some 2 mn Palestinians.

On the other hand, Hamas welcomed the proposal, considering it a “step forward” for a unified Arab support for the Palestinian cause, Reuters reports. The group also called for providing the necessary means to ensure the plan’s success and urged Arab leaders to push Israel to commit to its ceasefire agreement.

And from the Oval Office: “While the President stands by his bold vision for a post-war Gaza, he welcomes input from our Arab partners in the region. It's clear his proposals have driven the region to come to the table rather than allow this issue to devolve into further crisis,” White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said, reiterating that Hamas cannot remain in power.

ON THE SIDELINES OF THE SUMMIT- El Sisi held one-on-one meetings with EU CouncilPresident Antonio Costa, Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Chair Rashad Al Alimi, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Iraq’s President Abdul Latif Rashid, and Syria’s President Ahmed El Sharaa.

The news got a lot of ink in the international pages, receiving coverage from Reuters | Bloomberg | The Guardian | Washington Post | AP | New York Times | CNN | BBC.

ALSO ON GAZA-

Providing medical care to Gazans topped the agenda of a meeting between an EU delegation and Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, which saw the two sides review Egyptian hospitals' ability to receive Palestinians and further cooperation with the bloc to better provide medical attention. Gaza reconstruction plans also took center stage, with the meeting discussing how to rehabilitate the enclave’s healthcare system that has been systemically destroyed by Israel — the majority of Gaza’s hospitals are either shut or destroyed and over 1k health workers have been killed in airstrikes, ground incursions, and shelling targeting medical facilities and ambulances. How to address the psychological harm that the two mn population, nearly half of which are children, has suffered from the 15-month onslaught was also covered.

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