European leaders back ‘realistic’ Arab plan for Gaza

The leading European Union countries said that it supports a plan backed by Arabs to rebuild Gaza, which will cost 53 billion dollars (41 billion pounds) and avoid removing Palestinians from the region.

The plan, which Egypt developed and read by Arab leaders, It was rejected by Israel and US President Donald TrumpHe presented his own vision to convert the Gaza Strip into the “Middle East Riviera”.

On Saturday, foreign ministers in France, Germany, Italy and Britain welcomed the plan, which calls for the rebuilding of Gaza for five years, as “realistic”.

In a statement, they said that the proposal promised “the rapid and sustainable improvement of the catastrophic living conditions” of the people of Gaza.

The plan calls for Gaza to be temporarily controlled by a committee of independent experts and to obtain international peacekeepers in the region.

The committee will be responsible for overseeing humanitarian aid and managing Gaza affairs temporarily under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority.

The proposal is a substitute for Trump’s idea of ​​the United States to take over Gaza and resettle its residents.

He was She welcomed the Palestinian Authority and Hamas After Egypt presented it at the Emergency League summit on Tuesday.

But both the White House and the Israeli Foreign Ministry said it failed to address the facts in Gaza.

“The residents cannot live in a humanitarian manner in an area covered with debris and unprotected ammunition,” said Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the National Security Council, late on Tuesday.

“President Trump stands beside his vision to rebuild Gaza free of Hamas,” the statement added.

The statement issued by the four European countries said on Saturday that it is “committed to working with the Arab initiative”, and they estimated the “important reference” that the Arab countries sent through their development.

The statement said that Hamas “should not govern Gaza and do not pose a threat to Israel anymore” and that the four countries “support the main role of the Palestinian Authority and implement its reform agenda.”

The proposal was put in an increasing concern The fragile ceasefire deal may collapse in Gaza After the first stage of six weeks ends on March 1.

Israel prevented assistance from entering the region to pressure Hamas to accept a new American proposal for a temporary extension of engineering, during which more hostages will be launched in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas insisted that the second stage should start as agreed upon, which leads to the end of the war and withdrawing the full Israeli forces.

Almost all 2.3 million people had to leave their homes since the start of hostilities. Israel began military operations after the Hamas attack in October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and witnessed another 251 hostages.

Gaza has suffered greatly with a huge human impact. More than 48,000 Palestinians were killed during the military action of Israel, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, and a lot of infrastructure was settled via the tape due to air strikes.