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Gaza Arab Plan May Involve Up to $20 Billion Regional Contribution, Sources Say
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, June 10, 2024. Photo: Amr Nabil/Pool via REUTERS
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to travel to Riyadh on Thursday, two Egyptian security sources said, where he is due to discuss an Arab plan for Gaza that may include up to $20 billion from the region for reconstruction.
Arab states are expected to discuss a post-war plan for Gaza to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal to redevelop the strip under US control and displace Palestinians, a prospect that has angered regional leaders.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar are set to review and discuss the Arab plan in Riyadh before it is presented at a scheduled Arab summit which takes place in Cairo on March 4, four sources with knowledge of the matter said.
On Friday, a gathering of Arab state leaders, including Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, and Qatar, was expected in Saudi Arabia, which is spearheading Arab efforts on Trump’s plan, although some sources said the date had not been confirmed yet.
Arab states were dismayed by Trump’s plan to “clean out” Palestinians from Gaza and resettle most of them in Jordan and Egypt, to create a Middle East Riviera. The idea was immediately rejected by Cairo and Amman and seen in most of the region as deeply destabilizing.
The Arab proposal, mostly based on an Egyptian plan, involves forming a national Palestinian committee to govern Gaza without Hamas involvement and international participation in reconstruction without displacing Palestinians abroad.
A $20 billion contribution from Arab and Gulf states towards the fund, cited by two sources as being a likely figure, may be a good incentive for Trump to accept the plan, Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdullah said.
“Trump is transactional so $20 billion would resonate well with him,” Abdullah said.
“This would benefit a lot of US and Israeli companies,” he added.
The Palestinian Authority’s cabinet said in a statement on Tuesday that the first phase of the plan under discussion would cost approximately $20 billion over three years.
Egyptian sources told Reuters discussions are still under way as to the size of the financial contribution by the region.
The plan sees reconstruction taking place over a three-year timeframe, sources said.
“My conversations with Arab leaders, most recently King Abdullah, have convinced me they have a really realistic appraisal of what their role should be,” Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters in Tel Aviv during a visit to Israel on Monday.
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said Israel was waiting to evaluate the plan as it comes together but warned that any plan in which Hamas continued to have presence in Gaza was not acceptable.
“When we hear it, we will know how to address it,” he said.
The post Gaza Arab Plan May Involve Up to $20 Billion Regional Contribution, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Kurdish-led SDF Say Five Members Killed During Attack by Islamic State in Syria
Islamic State slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in the hillside overlooking Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. Photo: via Reuters Connect.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Sunday that five of its members had been killed during an attack by Islamic State militants on a checkpoint in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zor on July 31.
The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated Islamic State in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The Islamic State has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia. Deir el-Zor city was captured by Islamic State in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.
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Armed Groups Attack Security Force Personnel in Syria’s Sweida, Killing One, State TV Reports
People ride a motorcycle past a burned-out military vehicle, following deadly clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes, and government forces, in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Armed groups attacked personnel from Syria’s internal security forces in Sweida, killing one member and wounding others, and fired shells at several villages in the violence-hit southern province, state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Sunday.
The report cited a security source as saying the armed groups had violated the ceasefire agreed in the predominantly Druze region, where factional bloodshed killed hundreds of people last month.
Violence in Sweida erupted on July 13 between tribal fighters and Druze factions. Government forces were sent to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops in the name of the Druze.
The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Sweida province is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes, and the communities have had long-standing tensions over land and other resources.
A US-brokered truce ended the fighting, which had raged in Sweida city and surrounding towns for nearly a week. Syria said it would investigate the clashes, setting up a committee to investigate the attacks.
The Sweida bloodshed last month was a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after a wave of sectarian violence in March that killed hundreds of Alawite citizens in the coastal region.
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Netanyahu Urges Red Cross to Aid Gaza Hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke with the International Red Cross’s regional head, Julien Lerisson, and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.