Leadnaija
Foreign ministers from Muslim nations on Saturday rejected calls by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population and backed a plan for an administrative committee of Palestinians to govern the territory to allow reconstruction to go ahead.
Meanwhile, Hamas reported “positive signals” in talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo on starting negotiations on the delayed second phase of its ceasefire deal with Israel. Spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua gave no details, but said the group is willing to start talks and its delegation has been discussing the means to do so.
The foreign ministers gathered in Saudi Arabia for a special session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to address the situation in Gaza while the 7-week-old ceasefire has been thrown into doubt. Its second phase is meant to bring the release of remaining hostages, a lasting truce and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
The gathering threw its support behind a plan to rebuild Gaza put forward by Egypt and backed by Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, aimed at countering Trump’s call. The OIC has 57 nations with largely Muslim populations.
Without specifically mentioning Trump, the ministers’ statement said they rejected “plans aimed at displacing the Palestinian people individually or collectively … as ethnic cleansing, a grave violation of international law and a crime against humanity.”
They also condemned “policies of starvation” that they said aim to push Palestinians to leave, a likely reference to Israel’s cutting off all supplies to Gaza in the past week as it presses Hamas to instead extend the ceasefire’s first phase.
The OIC also reinstated Syria as a member. Syria was removed from the OIC in 2012 over then-President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on opposition protests. After 14 years of civil war, Assad was ousted in December by Islamist-led insurgents who have created a transitional government.
The ceasefire in Gaza that began in mid-January brought a pause in Israel’s campaign of bombardment and ground offensives aimed at destroying Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. The ceasefire’s first phase, which ended last weekend, saw the release of 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in exchange for the freeing of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
But Israel has balked at entering negotiations over the terms of the second phase. Instead, it has called for Hamas to release half the remaining hostages in return for an extension of the first phase and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.
Since Sunday, Israel has barred all food, fuel, medicine and other supplies from entering Gaza for its more than 2 million people, demanding Hamas accept the revised deal.
At the same time, Trump has called for Gaza’s population to be resettled elsewhere permanently so the United States can take over the territory and develop it for others. Palestinians have rejected calls to leave.
The ministers at the OIC gathering supported an Egyptian-backed proposal that an administrative committee replace Hamas in governing Gaza. The committee would work “under the umbrella” of the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank. Israel has rejected the PA having any role in Gaza, but has not put forward an alternative for post-war rule.
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and Britain said in a joint statement that they welcome the Arab initiative for a Gaza reconstruction plan, calling it “a realistic path.” They added that “Hamas must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel anymore” and they support the central role for the PA.
Under the ceasefire, Israeli forces have pulled back to a zone along Gaza’s edges. Early Saturday, an Israeli strike killed two Palestinians in the southernmost city of Rafah, the Health Ministry there said. The Israeli military said it struck several men who appeared to have been flying a drone that entered Israel.
Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many of the dead were militants.
Hamas’ October 2023 attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel and took 251 people hostage. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other arrangements. Hamas is believed to still have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 34 others.
