Arab leaders meet to discuss Donald Trump’s plan to redevelop Gaza – Middle East crisis live

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Arab leaders gather to hash out alternative to Trump's Gaza plan

Arab leaders are gathering in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss an alternative to a widely condemned plan from US President Donald Trump to assume control of war-battered Gaza and displace its Palestinian population.

The Arab League summit on the territory’s reconstruction comes a day after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu again gave his backing to Trump’s plan, calling it “visionary and innovative”.

Palestinians, along with the Arab world and many of Israel and the United States’ partners, have condemned Trump’s proposal, rejecting any efforts to expel Palestinians in Gaza.

UN estimates have put the cost of Gaza’s reconstruction at more than $53bn (£42bn), after a devastating war triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Palestinian Mohammed Dib Salem, who lost a leg after an Israeli attack, and his son spend their time under hard conditions during the holy month of Ramadan at an institution for disabled people, after their house is destroyed during an Israeli attack, in the Sudaniya region in the northern Gaza Strip on 27 February 2025.

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Israel this week introduced what it said was a new US ceasefire plan – different from the one it agreed to in January – and is trying to force Hamas to accept it by imposing a siege on the Gaza Strip, AP reporters explain.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to it as the “Witkoff proposal,” saying it came from U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff. But the White House has yet to confirm that, saying only that it supports whatever action Israel takes.

Netanyahu’s remarks came a day after the first phase of the negotiated ceasefire ended, with no clarity on what would come next since the agreement’s second phase has not yet been hammered out.

The new plan would require Hamas to release half its remaining hostages - the militant group’s main bargaining chip – in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners – a key component of the first phase.

Palestinians go about their daily lives past destroyed buildings at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on 3 March 2025, during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Hamas has accused Israel of trying to sabotage the existing agreement, which called for the two sides to negotiate the return of the remaining hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire. But no substantive negotiations have been held.

On Sunday, Israel halted all food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s population of 2 million people and vowed “additional consequences” if Hamas did not embrace the new proposal.

Arab leaders are meanwhile finalizing a separate plan for postwar Gaza to counter Trump’s suggestion that its population be relocated so it can be transformed into a tourist destination.

But all bets are off if the war resumes.

Arab leaders gather to hash out alternative to Trump's Gaza plan

Palestinians, along with the Arab world and many of Israel and the United States’ partners, have condemned Trump’s proposal, rejecting any efforts to expel Palestinians in Gaza.

UN estimates have put the cost of Gaza’s reconstruction at more than $53bn (£42bn), after a devastating war triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

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