The Foreign Ministry of Egypt announced on Sunday it would convene an emergency meeting of the Arab League on February 27 in light of President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions the United States would take over and rehabilitate the Gaza Strip.
Trump has told reporters on multiple occasions in the past month that he does not believe that Palestinian civilians should be forced to live in Gaza in its current state. Gaza has been controlled by the jihadist terror organization Hamas since 2007 and has been in a formal state of war with Israel since October 8, 2023 – the day after Hamas terrorists killed, abducted, tortured, and raped hundreds of civilians in an invasion of Israel. To neutralize Hamas’s ability to repeat its gruesome terrorism, Israeli armed forces have targeted and dismantled much of Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, often hidden in schools, hospitals, and other civilian areas.
In late January, Trump described Gaza as a “literally a demolition site” and expressed home that some neighboring Arab states would take it over from Hamas and help “clean out that whole thing.”
Last week, Trump told reporters that America would “take over the Gaza Strip” and “do a job with it” in the absence of any interest from Egypt, Jordan, or other neighboring Muslim countries to help its inhabitants.
“We’ll love it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous bombs and other weapons on the site,” he claimed, “and get rid of the destroyed buildings [and] create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing.”
Trump also suggested the new Gaza would be an “international” vacation destination.
🚨 BREAKING: Trump announces the United States will take over the Gaza strip
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) February 5, 2025
Just wow. pic.twitter.com/QUxWTZkede
Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, has been especially reluctant to take in any Palestinian refugees throughout the war, claiming that allowing civilians to escape the destitute and war-torn area was akin to ethnic cleansing. Cairo reportedly explained in its announcement of the emergency Arab League meeting that the intent of the event would be to essentially prevent America from taking on a dominant role in rebuilding Gaza.
The National, a paper of record in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), reported citing anonymous sources that the Arab League would use the meeting “to produce a unified Arab stances against Mr. Trump’s proposals, with the hope of dissuading the US president.”
It is unclear which neighboring countries would participate in the summit, though most are expected to attend. Of note is a report from the regional newspaper Al Araby Al Jadeed indicating that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of the jihadist terror organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is expected to attend.
Preceding the announcement of the meeting, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry revealed in a public statement that Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had spent much of Saturday on the phone with other Arab diplomats discussing the Muslim world’s rejection of Trump’s plan. The Foreign Ministry listed Abdelatty’s contacts as including his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Sudan. Bahrain, as the current Arab chair, is likely to be a prominent attendee at the emergency meeting.
Egypt, the Foreign Ministry statement on Saturday reiterated, “rejects any measures aimed at displacing the Palestinian people from their land or encouraging their relocation to other countries outside the Palestinian territories.”
“This stance stems from the belief that such notions and ideas represent a blatant violation of international law, an infringement on Palestinian rights,” it continued, “and a threat to security and stability in the region, thereby undermining the chances for peace and coexistence among its peoples.”
Notably, the Foreign Ministry said Abdelatty’s conversations including talks on how Egypt could help with “early recovery projects, debris removal, and reconstruction” – the tasks that Trump listed as essential to making Gaza once again inhabitable.
In another sign that Egypt may be considering taking on some responsibilities in rebuilding Gaza, Saudi news outlet Al-Hadath reported on Sunday that Egyptian officials contacted Washington to inform it that it is working on “a vision of its own for rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians,” Israel’s i24 News reported. The Saudi report did not specify any provisions within that alleged vision.
Abdelatty departed for Washington on Sunday.
“The visit takes place in the framework of bolstering bilateral relations and the strategic partnership binding Egypt and the United States and to consult on regional developments,” the Egyptian government said of the top diplomat’s visit before he left.
Egyptian strongman leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi himself is expected to travel to the White House himself sometime before the end of February, according to various reports, but neither government has confirmed such a visit at press time.
If Egypt proposes taking on a prominent role in rebuilding Gaza, it may be what Trump’s remarks initially intended to inspire. During a visit to the Dominican Republic last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that Trump was frustrated with the lack of initiative by regional actors, prompting his plan to “take over” Gaza.
“That place right now,” Rubio said of Gaza, “is not habitable, not just because of destruction due to the conflict and the fact that the Hamas cowards hide underground, but also because there are unexploded munitions; there are all kinds of weapons, including Hamas weapons, in the location.”
“I think President Trump has offered to go in and be a part of that solution, and if some other country is willing to step forward and do it themselves, then that would be great,” he explained. “But no one seems to be rushing forward to do that, and that has to happen. That’s the reality.”
“There are a lot of countries in the world that like to express concern about Gaza and about the Palestinian people but very few were willing in the past to do anything concrete about it,” he concluded, “And so I think President Trump is trying to stir that and hopefully get a reaction from some countries who do have both the economic and technological capacity to contribute to a post-conflict region.”
