European leaders support Arab-backed Gaza reconstruction plan rejected by US, Israel
European leaders have issued a statement supporting an Arab vision for the reconstruction of Gaza that was rejected by Israel and the US.
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European leaders are supporting an A$84 billion Arab-backed plan for recovery and reconstruction in Gaza that was previously rejected by the US and Israel, as power to the embattled enclave is cut off.
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the UK issued a joint statement on saying they welcome the plan, which was drawn up by Egypt and adopted by Arab leaders at an emergency summit on Tuesday.
“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 foreign ministers’ statement said.
“Recovery and reconstruction efforts must be based upon a solid political and security framework acceptable to both Israelis and Palestinians, which provides long term peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians alike,” they continued.
The coalition added that it “explicitly” supports the “central role” of the Palestinian Authority and the implementation of its reform agenda in post-war Gaza.
“We are clear that Hamas must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel any more,” it added.
The plan calls for a committee that would temporarily oversee humanitarian aid and manage the Strip’s affairs under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority.
It has been rejected by Israel and US President Trump, who has pushed resettling Palestinians outside the territory and expressed a vision of transforming Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Both parties say the plan fails to address the realities in Gaza.
“Residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance,” Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for Mr Trump’s National Security Council, said in a statement earlier this week.
“President Trump stands by his vision to rebuild Gaza free from Hamas,” he added.
Separately, Iran also reportedly rejected the plan as it supports only a one-state solution for Palestine, not the proposed two-state solution where it exists alongside Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it will send a negotiating team to Qatar to continue efforts to extend the ceasefire hostage deal in Gaza, with help from US-backed mediators.
It comes as Israel announced it will be cutting off electricity to Gaza, just one week after it ended all supplies of goods to the territory.
Israel has sought to pressure Hamas into accepting an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire deal.
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ISRAEL CUTTING POWER TO GAZA
The Israeli government has ordered the nation’s power company to cut electricity to the war-ravaged Gaza strip in an attempt to pressure the enclave to release at least 24 hostages
Energy Minister Eli Cohen instructed the Israel Electric Corporation on Sunday to cut power to the region, and sent a letter to the IEC ordering it to stop selling electricity to Gaza power stations.
“We will employ all the tools available to us so that all the hostages will return, and we will ensure that Hamas won’t be in Gaza on the ‘day after’,” he said in a video statement.
An Israeli official said the order will largely impact a single desalination plant, the only facility in the Strip still running on a power line supplied from Israel. Power was cut to Gaza after the October 7 attacks.
The desalination plant serves more than 600,000 Gaza residents and is one of three seawater processing facilities in the region . Before the war, it provided water for about 15 percent of the population.
Hamas said the move was “cheap and unacceptable blackmail”.
“We strongly condemn the occupation’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza, after depriving it of food, medicine and water,” Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau says in a statement.
He described the move as a “a desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics.”
HAMAS JOINS GAZA PEACE TALKS; ARABS BACK PLAN
More than 50 freed Israeli hostages urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fully implement the Gaza ceasefire deal and secure the release of those still held in the Palestinian territory.
“We who have experienced the inferno know that a return to war is life-threatening for those still left behind,” a group of 56 freed hostages said in a letter posted on the social media platform Instagram on Friday evening (Saturday AEDT).
“Implement the agreement in full, in one single manoeuvre.” Among those to sign the letter was Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two young sons died while held captive in Gaza.
Their plea came as Hamas released a video showing Israeli hostage Matan Angrest alive, footage that his family said had left them “shaken”.
In the footage, Angrest, who turned 22 in November, also calls on the Israeli authorities to implement the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, though hostilities have not resumed.
While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the 2023 attack on Israel, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has said are dead.
A high-level Hamas delegation is expected to hold talks with Egyptian officials over the second phase of the ceasefire, two senior Hamas officials told AFP.
Hamas will demand that Israel implement the agreement, begin negotiations for the second phase and open the border crossings to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
Hamas’s demands for the second phase include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to the blockade, the reconstruction of the territory and financial support based on the decisions of this week’s Arab summit in Cairo.
ARABS BACK ALTERNATIVE TO TRUMP’S GAZA PLAN
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Friday endorsed an Arab League counter-proposal to US President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to take over Gaza and displace its residents, two ministers told AFP.
The decision by the 57-member grouping came at an emergency meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Egyptian-crafted alternative to Trump’s widely condemned takeover proposes to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority.
Trump 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 or Jordan.
At Tuesday’s summit in Cairo, Arab leaders also announced a trust fund to pay for Gaza’s reconstruction and urged the international community to back it.
“The next step is for the plan to become an international plan through adoption by the European Union and international parties such as Japan, Russia, China and others,” Abdelatty said.
“This is what we will seek and we have contact with all parties, including the American party.” However, the counter-proposal does not outline a role for Hamas, which controls Gaza, and was rejected by both the United States and Israel.
The plan “does not meet the expectations” of Washington, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff gave a more positive reaction, calling it a “good-faith first step from the Egyptians”.
Trump’s plan has already united Arab countries in opposition, with Saudi Arabia also hosting Arab leaders two weeks ago to discuss alternatives.
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