Hamas has welcomed a plan put forward by Arab states for Gaza’s reconstruction on Tuesday, while Israel criticised it, according to Reuters.
Shortly after a summit of Arab leaders in Cairo, the Israeli foreign ministry said the reconstruction plan “failed to address” the realities of the situation following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
“Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack, which resulted in thousands of Israeli deaths and hundreds of kidnappings, is not mentioned, nor is there any condemnation of this murderous terrorist entity,” the foreign ministry said.
Hamas, however, called for providing the means to ensure the plan’s success and considered the summit a “step forward” for Arab and Islamic support behind the Palestinian cause.
The Palestinian group urged Arab leaders to compel Israel to commit to its ceasefire agreement with Hamas. “We value the Arab stance rejecting the attempts to displace our people,” Hamas added.
Israeli forces have carried out a wave of overnight raids and arrests in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.
Four people were arrested from the village of Kafr ad-Dik, west of Salfit while six people were arrested from Nablus and the nearby Balata camp, where they also “severely beat” a resident.
Three young men from the Tulkarem refugee camp were arrested, as were
two university students from Ramallah and the nearby village of Beitello. One person from the town of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem, was also arrested.
Israeli Army Radio, citing data from minister Ze’ev Elkin, says some 2,900 buildings were damaged in northern Israel during the offensive with Hezbollah, Al Jazeera reports.
About 19 per cent of the damage was caused by the Israeli military, it said.
The damage is estimated at 9 billion shekels ($2.5bn), the outlet said.
It added that of the 67,500 Israelis who evacuated their homes, some 19,000 have now returned.
Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, tells Al Jazeera that the Arab Summit in Cairo came with “many things that are positive for Israel, positive for the Palestinians, positive for the region”.
He said, “Israel doesn’t have to accept in the first instance everything that’s in there,” describing the Gaza reconstruction plan put forward by Egypt as an “opening gambit”.
Unfortunately, Mekelberg added, the Israeli government is used to rejecting proposals “unless it gets everything that it wants”.
“This is not a very clear diplomacy,” he said.
“Obviously, after what…President Trump said only a few weeks ago about the expulsion of all the Palestinians from Gaza, this, all of a sudden, became almost an official policy in Israel. But it’s not going to happen, it shouldn’t happen,” he said.
More than 200 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in front of Columbia University in New York to demonstrate against former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, who was at the campus for a speaking engagement, AFP reports.
“The decision to host a man with such a violent and openly discriminatory record sends a message that the university values some voices over others,” a spokesperson for Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition — one of the groups taking part in the protest — said in a statement.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reports from Gaza City that absolutely no aid has entered for a fourth day.
“The impact is everywhere. Markets are depleting right now. They’re running out of basic essentials, and whatever is available is too expensive for people to afford.
“It’s not just about the food. Hospitals are struggling to operate with little to no medical supplies at all. Doctors have approached us, telling us how they’re running out of basic supplies, antibiotics and painkillers,” he said.
“It’s making their ability to provide medical care quite difficult.”
The US State Department has said it was implementing the designation of Yemen’s Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organisation” after President Donald Trump’s call for the move earlier this year, Reuters reports.
“The Houthis’ activities threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
“The United States will not tolerate any country engaging with terrorist organisations like the Houthis in the name of practicing legitimate international business,” he added.
The move, however, triggered concerns it could impact regional security and worsen Yemen’s humanitarian crisis because importers fear being hit with US sanctions if supplies fall into Houthi hands.
“For humanitarian goods a lot of it comes in through the private sector. If this is not possible, it will have a devastating humanitarian impact,” said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, pointing out that some 19 million Yemenis require life-saving assistance.
Houthi fighters take part in a parade for people who attended Houthi military training as part of a mobilisation campaign, in Sanaa, Yemen on December 18, 2024. — Reuters/Khaled Abdullah/File Photo
US President Donald Trump, addressing the country’s Congress for the first time since returning to office, barely spoke about Israel’s war on Gaza or the ongoing ceasefire efforts, according to Al Jazeera.
He said his administration is “bringing back our hostages from Gaza”, and talked up the agreements to establish formal relations between Israel and Arab states, suggesting that more deals may be on the way, Al Jazeera noted.
“In my first term, we achieved one of the most groundbreaking peace agreements in generations, the Abraham Accords,” he said, referring to the normalisation treaties.
“Then and now, we’re going to build on that foundation to create a more peaceful and prosperous future for the entire region. A lot of things are happening in the Middle East — rough neighbourhood.”
The UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) has said health workers in Gaza have diagnosed more than 3,000 children and 1,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women with acute malnutrition since January 19 — when the Gaza truce took effect —and referred them for treatment, Al Jazeera reports.
The OCHA said there has been a slight improvement in the number of children and pregnant and breastfeeding women consuming the minimum required food groups since the ceasefire, because of the increased availability of goods on the local market.
But it warned that Israel’s renewed blockade was again jeopardising the “progress made in delivering vital, lifesaving assistance” since the ceasefire took effect.
“If the disruption to aid entry continues, at least 80 community kitchens may soon run out of stock. Among the kitchens that remain operational, some will need to start to adjust meal content or reduce the number of meals prepared to cope with anticipated shortages,” it said.
Aid agencies may be forced to reduce food rations, and while the distribution of previously dispatched food parcels is ongoing, these remaining supplies, which will support 500,000 people, will soon run out.
Palestinian children gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen during Ramazan, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on March 3, 2025. — Reuters/Hatem Khaled
The Palestinian Red Crescent has said four Palestinians have been injured during Israeli raids in the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate of the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera Arabic reports.
According to Al Jazeera, Israeli soldiers fired bullets and tear gas at players and spectators who had gathered for a nighttime football match in Nilin, a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate.
Arab leaders adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza on Tuesday that would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave, in contrast to US President Donald Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” vision.
The White House said the plan adopted by Arab states did not address Gaza’s reality and that Trump stood by his proposal.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the Egyptian proposal, welcomed in subsequent statements by Hamas and criticised by Israel and the US, had been accepted at the closing of a summit in Cairo.
Sisi said at the summit that he was certain Trump would be able to achieve peace as the Gaza Strip has been left devastated by Israel’s military assault.
The major questions that need to be answered about Gaza’s future are who will run the enclave and which countries will provide the billions of dollars needed for reconstruction.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi poses for a picture with leaders as Egypt hosts emergency Arab summit to discuss Palestinian developments, at Egypt’s New Administrative Capital in Cairo, on March 4, 2025. — Egyptian Presidency/Handout via Reuters
The White House has said that the reconstruction plan adopted by Arab states — to counter Donald Trump’s proposal of US takeover of the enclave — does not address the reality that Gaza is “currently uninhabitable”, Reuters reports.
The Palestinian president says the calls to transfer the population of Gaza from their homelands is “categorically rejected”, Al Jazeera reports.
“We thank all Arab and European states who have taken the initiative and were quick to reject this irresponsible and inhumane call,” he said, speaking at an Arab League summit that aims to counter President Trump’s proposal for Gaza.
“We also reiterate our rejection of the Israeli practices to mandate a reality of occupation in the West Bank and Jerusalem with the purpose of undermining the two-state solution and the Palestinian cause,” Abbas added.
He said that the Palestinian Authority, which he heads, commends “the Arab-Egyptian plan for the reconstruction of Gaza in the presence of the Palestinians in their homeland”.
“We call on Trump to support the efforts of reconstruction on these bases, rather than any other basis,” Abbas added.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he supported an Arab-led initiative to mobilise support for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
Egypt presented a plan for reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave at an Arab League summit in Cairo. The plan, seen by Reuters, aims to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a Middle East “Riviera” in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking at the Cairo summit, Guterres also called for the resumption “without delay” of negotiations on continuing a ceasefire in Gaza, and he expressed concern over an escalation of violence in the West Bank.
Egypt’s President el-Sisi, after welcoming the leaders and officials present at the summit, says “today we are gathered by a painful reality […] our region is faced by painful challenges”, Al Jazeera reports.
“Humanity lost its virtue in Gaza,” he said. “The people in Gaza who lost loved ones, those who were widowed orphaned are looking up to you to restore hope and last and permanent peace.”
El-Sisi added that the Gaza plan would ensure Palestinians “remain on their land”.
El-Sisi added that he wants the Gaa reconstruction plan to be adopted at today’s summit.
“Peace cannot be maintained by force,” he said. “We will also be providing security training to security officials in Gaza.”
As Arab leaders prepare to meet in Cairo, Hamas has urged those present at the summit to “thwart” the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.
“We look forward to an effective Arab role that ends the humanitarian tragedy created by the occupation in the Gaza Strip… and thwarts the [Israeli] occupation’s plans to displace [Palestinians],” a Hamas statement said.
In addition to Egypt’s $53bn, five-year plan for Gaza’s reconstruction, state-affiliated Al-Qahera News channel said the reconstruction “would require arrangements for transitional governance and security that preserve the prospects of a two-state solution”, Al Jazeera reports.
“The two-state solution is the optimal solution from the perspective of international law and the international community,” the plan says.
According to the channel, the plan “will take three years to implement and includes early recovery programs and reconstruction efforts running in parallel, while advancing towards a two-state solution as part of a political resolution”.
Egypt has prepared a $53 billion, five-year plan for Gaza’s reconstruction, complete with new housing, a commercial harbour and an airport, Reuters reports.
Here are major aspects of the plan:
Early recovery (six months): Rubble to be cleared, temporary housing installed
Phase one (two years): 200,000 housing units to be built
Phase two (two-and-a-half years): 200,000 more housing units and an airport to be built
Phase one will cost around $20bn, while phase two will cost $30bn, said the report, adding that the plan has been adopted in the draft communique of today’s Arab summit.
Following Israeli FM’s demand of a total demilitarisation in Gaza before implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire, Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP that disarming is a red line for the group as well as other Palestinian groups.
“Any talk about the resistance’s weapons is nonsense. The resistance’s weapons are a red line for Hamas and all resistance factions,” Abu Zuhri.
An Arab summit draft communique has adopted an Egyptian plan for Gaza’s future and called on the international community and financial institutions to provide support for the plan quickly, Reuters reports.
An Arab plan for Gaza would counter US President Donald Trump’s ambition for a Middle East Riviera in the enclave.
The attack, which wounded the child, took place in eastern Rafah’s Jenina neighbourhood, according to Al Jazeera.
It is at least the second time Israeli forces have a shot at Palestinians in Gaza today, Al Jazeera reports. One person was killed by gunfire near Deir el-Balah earlier.
Israeli forces have shot and killed a Palestinian near Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera reports.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, acknowledged shooting a person in southern Gaza, saying the individual was approaching its soldiers and posed an “imminent threat”.
The incidents come after a spate of Israeli attacks on Gaza yesterday, including a strike in central Rafah that killed two people.
Speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem, Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar has said Israel’s conditions for proceeding to stage two of the ceasefire are Gaza’s full demilitarisation and the return of captives, Al Jazeera reports.
“We don’t have an agreement on phase two,” said Sa’ar. “We demand total demilitarisation of Gaza, Hamas and Islamic Jihad out, and give us our hostages.
“If they agree to that we can implement tomorrow.”
