ARAB leaders meeting in Cairo today were set to endorse a counter proposal to US President Donald Trump’s plan for ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip.

The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel hangs by a thread.

The summit hosted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi included the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose support is crucial for any postwar plan.

Israel is pushing what it says is an alternative US proposal for the ceasefire itself and the release of hostages taken in Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023. 

Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza to try to force Hamas to accept the new proposal and has warned of additional consequences amounting to a “hell plan,” raising fears of a return to fighting.

Human rights groups say the suspension of aid violates Israel’s obligations as an occupying power under international law.

The new plan would require Hamas to release half its remaining hostages in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. 

Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners as part of any potential new deal.

Egypt’s postwar plan would see Palestinians relocated to safe areas inside Gaza, and equipped with mobile homes while its cities are rebuilt. 

Hamas would cede power to an interim administration of political independents until a reformed Palestinian Authority can assume control.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Western-backed authority and an opponent of Hamas, was attending the summit.

Israel has ruled out any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and, along with the US, has demanded Hamas’s disarmament. 

Hamas says it’s willing to cede power in Gaza to other Palestinians, but won’t give up its arms until there is a Palestinian state.

An early draft of the statement endorsing the plan called for a “permanent and just solution” for the Palestinian cause, and for the UN security council to deploy international peacekeepers in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. 

The mention of peacekeepers was dropped from a later draft.

President Trump shocked the world last month when he suggested that Gaza’s roughly two million Palestinians be resettled in other countries. He said that the US would take ownership of the territory and redevelop it into a Middle Eastern “Riviera.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embraced the scheme, which was rejected by most nations and condemned as ethnic cleansing by human rights organisations.