Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty conveyed Arab states’ firm opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians in Gaza and place the enclave under American control during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Monday. According to Egypt’s foreign ministry, Abdelatty emphasised the urgency of reconstructing Gaza while ensuring that Palestinians remain in their homeland.
A statement from the U.S. State Department following the meeting did not explicitly reference Trump’s plan but highlighted Rubio’s emphasis on “close cooperation to advance post-conflict planning for the governance and security of Gaza,” stressing that Hamas should never again rule the enclave or pose a threat to Israel.
Abdelatty also met separately with U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, reiterating Egypt’s position on the matter. He stated that he looked forward to working with the new U.S. administration to promote a “comprehensive and just peace and stability” in the region.
Any suggestion of displacing Palestinians from Gaza has long been rejected by Palestinian leaders and neighbouring Arab states. The issue has been particularly contentious since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023. Trump initially proposed on 25 January that Egypt and Jordan should absorb Palestinians fleeing Gaza. In the following days, he suggested a U.S. takeover of the enclave and the permanent displacement of its people without the right to return.
His remarks have fuelled long-standing fears among Palestinians of forced expulsion and have been widely condemned by rights groups and the United Nations, who have described them as amounting to ethnic cleansing.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, now under a tenuous ceasefire, has resulted in the deaths of more than 47,000 Palestinians over the past 16 months, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The offensive has also led to accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies. The war has internally displaced almost the entire population of Gaza, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis marked by widespread hunger.
The latest cycle of violence in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking approximately 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
