Saudi Arabia will have a meeting of Arab leaders on Friday to discuss US President Donald Trump’s control over Gaza and the proposed plan to oust Palestinians.
According to French news agency AFP, diplomatic and government sources say that Trump’s plan has created an extraordinary alliance in Arab countries, which is strongly opposed, but Gaza’s management and reconstruction. Differences on financial support remain.
Saudi foreign policy expert Omar Karim told AFP that the meeting could be “the most effective” for the Palestinian issue and the wider Arab world in decades.
When Trump declared that the United States would ‘occupy the Gaza Strip’ and move the 4 million residents there to Egypt and Jordan, it received a severe international response.
Former US President Donald Trump’s US control over Gaza and the forced expulsion of four million Palestinians there is a global condemnation globally, which critics have called genocide.
Arab countries, Palestinian leadership and human rights experts have rejected it as an open violation of international law.
According to Reuters, Trump, for the first time on January 25, mentioned the plan, saying that “Egypt and Jordan should give asylum to Palestinians, while new projects should be launched there and launching Gaza.”
The Palestinian leadership has termed the Palestinian leadership a violation of the fundamental rights of Palestinians and reminiscent of the 1948 hideout. Egypt and Jordan strongly rejected it, while experts say the move could cause further tension in the region.
The UN and human rights organizations have condemned forced outbreaks as against international law.
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According to sources close to the Saudi government, Arab leaders will consider a reconstruction project as an alternative, which will likely be based on Egypt’s proposed plan, AFP said.
The meeting was first attended by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan, but now it has included six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Palestinian Authority. According to the UN estimates, the reconstruction of Gaza will cost more than $ 53 billion, which will require more than $ 20 billion in the first three years.
The expected meeting in Saudi Arabia will also talk about paving the political route for a two -state solution to encourage a sustainable ceasefire.
According to Saudi foreign policy expert Omar Karim, the project will require an unprecedented Arab unity to put into practice.
He added that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will not provide financial support from Qatar and Egypt without assurances regarding Hamas.
Ceasefire update: Hamas will hand over the bodies of four prisoners to Israel
Hamas will hand over the bodies of four Israeli prisoners to Israel on Thursday.
According to the AFP, the Palestinian group announced that the bodies of Shari Babas, his two young sons Kafir and Eriel, and another prisoner, Odid Leafshtz, would be handed over to Israeli authorities in Khan Younis.
Under the first phase of the recent ceasefire, 19 Israeli prisoners have been released for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.
According to Israeli authorities, eight of the remaining prisoners have been killed.
Israel and Hamas have signed an agreement this week, under which the bodies of eight prisoners will be returned in two stages, while six Israeli prisoners will be released alive on Saturday.
Hamas and its allies detained 251 people in the October 7, 2023 attack, of which 70 are still in Gaza. According to the Israeli army, 35 prisoners have been killed.
Israeli land and air strikes killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, mostly of civilians, and the UN considers the figures credible.
