France, Germany, Italy and UK give support to Arab-backed plan for rebuilding Gaza
The Times of Israel
Mar 8, 2025
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the UK said Saturday they supported an Arab-backed plan for the reconstruction of Gaza that would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave.
“The plan shows a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza and promises – if implemented – swift and sustainable improvement of the catastrophic living conditions for the Palestinians living in Gaza,” the ministers said in a joint statement.
“We are clear that Hamas must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel any more,” they said. “We commend the serious efforts of all involved stakeholders and appreciate the important signal the Arab states have sent by jointly developing this recovery and reconstruction plan.”
The plan, which was drawn up by Egypt and adopted by Arab leaders earlier this month, has been rejected by US President Donald Trump and Israel, although there have been mixed signals from Washington.
It is a counter to Trump, who triggered global outrage by suggesting the US “take over” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” while forcing its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to Egypt, Jordan, or other countries.
The Arab plan envisions an independent committee of technocrats running Gaza for six months before handing off control of the Strip to the Palestinian Authority. It provides for Palestinians to remain in the Strip while it is being rebuilt, as opposed to Trump’s proposal that the entire population be relocated.
It offers international peacekeeping troops to be dispatched in Gaza through a UN Security Council resolution. In the meantime, Egypt and Jordan will train Palestinian Authority police officers so that they can then be dispatched to Gaza to uphold law and order, the plan says.
However, the Arab proposal does not significantly address Hamas, instead maintaining that armed groups in Gaza can only be fully addressed through a political process that establishes a Palestinian state.
Friday saw the Organization of Islamic Cooperation adopt the Arab plan.
The decision by the 57-member grouping came at an emergency meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, three days after the Arab League ratified the plan at a summit in Cairo.
“The emergency ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation adopted the Egyptian plan, which has now become an Arab-Islamic plan,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said, in comments echoed by his Sudanese counterpart.
“It is certainly a very positive thing,” Abdelatty said.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters on Thursday that the plan “does not meet the expectations” of Washington. White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said it didn’t account for “the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable.”
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff gave a more positive reaction, calling it a “good-faith first step from the Egyptians.”
Witkoff reiterated that rebuilding Gaza would take 10 to 15 years, during which the Strip would be uninhabitable. Still, he avoided criticizing the Egyptian plan that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza while it is being rebuilt by dividing the enclave into seven zones and working on them separately.
“We’re evaluating everything there. It’s a little bit early to comment,” Witkoff said in response to a question regarding this aspect of the Egyptian plan. “We need more discussion about it.”
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