Cairo, 5 March 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Egypt is proposing a $53 billion five-year plan for the reconstruction of Gaza that ensures Palestinians are not displaced outside the besieged strip, according to a document seen by dpa.

Leaders from more than 20 countries gathered in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss the plan.

The removal of the rubble and restoration of around 60,000 partially damaged houses would need six months and $3 billion, according to the document. Reconstruction should start afterwards.

By 2030, hundreds of thousands of new homes that can house up to 3 million people would have been built, as well as an airport, a port, industrial zones, hotels and parks.

Starting the reconstruction process requires arrangements for transitional governance, providing security, preserving the horizon of the two-state solution, and preventing the outbreak of new conflicts, the plan said, as it urged the international community to support mediators' efforts to maintain the current ceasefire agreement.

It also entails removing the Palestinian militant organization Hamas from ruling the Gaza Strip. Instead, a committee would be formed of independent non-factional technocrats, to administer Gaza for a transitional six-month period, in order to pave the way for the Palestinian Authority to return to the Gaza Strip.

The proposal also stated that Egypt and Jordan are working on training Palestinian police personnel ahead of deploying them in Gaza.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said that reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions remains one of the hurdles.

"There will be no real peace without establishing a Palestinian state," Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi told the opening session of the summit in Cairo.

"Peace will not come by force and cannot be forced," he added, urging the international community to support Egypt's plan, which aims to counter US President Donald Trump's controversial plans for the Gaza Strip.

Trump suggested transforming Gaza into a "Riviera of the Middle East" and permanently "resettling" the approximately 2 million Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan, prompting the UN to warn of "ethnic cleansing." Trump's remarks sparked outrage in the Arab world and beyond.

"I am sure Trump is able to carry that out [achieve peace] amid our true desire to put an end for the tensions and hostilities in our region," al-Sissi said.

Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa expressed support for the plan.

"We commend Egypt's plan presented to the summit for Gaza Strip and urge for this plan to be supported, which helps in strengthening our brotherly ties and protecting our national interests," the king told the opening session.

EU: Cairo summit to 'give hope to millions of Palestinians in Gaza'

The Gaza summit is important to "give hope to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and abroad" and to "bring an end to the terrible suffering we have all witnessed over the past year and a half," EU Council President António Costa said ahead of the meeting.

The European Union firmly rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial changes in Gaza, in other parts of the world, or anywhere else, Costa said.

Costa reiterated the EU's support for the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel at a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, in Cairo on Monday evening.

"The EU urges all parties to make every effort to uphold the ceasefire and hostages' release deal," Costa said after meeting Abbas.

"Humanitarian aid must be delivered immediately, safely, and unhindered to Gaza. We call on all parties to re-engage with the mediators on the talks for the second phase of the deal," he added.

UN chief shows support for Arab-led efforts for Gaza reconstruction

UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed support for the Arab-led reconstruction of Gaza and rejected the forced displacement of the strip's residents.

"I welcome and strongly endorse the Arab-led initiative to mobilize support for Gaza's reconstruction clearly expressed in this summit and the UN is ready to fully cooperate in this endeavour," he said.

"Gaza must remain an integral part of an independent, democratic and sovereign Palestinian state with no reduction in its territory or forced transfer of its population," Guterres added.

Foreign minister: Israel ready for second phase of ceasefire

Israel is ready to enter the second phase of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, according to the country's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

Saar said that this would require the release of all hostages and the complete demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, the Times of Israel reported on Tuesday.

Israel is reportedly trying to pressure Hamas into accepting a proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which expired last week, and release all remaining hostages in two stages.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Monday evening that Israel would only continue negotiations for a few more days.

Hamas rejected Israel's demand for a demilitarization of the Gaza Strip as a prerequisite for the second phase of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides.

Disarming Hamas was a "red line" for the group in the negotiations on the continuation of the ceasefire, a Hamas spokesman told dpa.

Hamas' latest statements suggest that it will be increasingly difficult to come to an agreement and it remains unclear whether the ceasefire will continue to hold.

MIA file photo