Egypt rejected on Wednesday an Israeli opposition leader’s proposal that it take over the administration of Gaza, calling the idea “unacceptable” and contrary to longstanding Egyptian and Arab policy.
“Any notions or proposals that circumvent the constants of the Egyptian and Arab stance (on Gaza) … are rejected and unacceptable,” the official MENA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Tamim Khallaf as saying, a day after Israel’s Yair Lapid floated the idea.
In press remarks, Khallaf said any suggestions bypassing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state were “half-solutions” that risk prolonging the conflict rather than solving it.
He said the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, were integral parts of the Palestinian territories that must be under “full Palestinian sovereignty and management”.
On Tuesday, Lapid said Egypt should run the Gaza Strip for at least eight years after the war is over, in exchange for massive debt relief.
Egypt has repeatedly rejected proposals for the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million Palestinian inhabitants to be relocated, calling such mass displacement a “red line”.
It led diplomatic efforts this month against a plan floated by President Donald Trump for the Unmited States to “take over” and “own” the war-battered enclave after its inhabitants have been relocated to Egypt or Jordan.
The Israeli military said it conducted air strikes against several launch sites inside Gaza Wednesday after a projectile was fired from the Palestinian territory but fell short.
“Earlier today (Wednesday), a projectile launch that fell inside the Gaza Strip was identified. A short while ago, the (military) struck several launch posts in the area where the projectile was fired from,” it said in a statement.
Israelis mourned the family that symbolised the trauma their country suffered in the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, as the Palestinian group agreed to free the last hostage bodies included in the initial phase of the Gaza ceasefire.
Hamas said the bodies of Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi and Shlomo Mantzur would be released on Wednesday night and added that a hospital in Gaza was preparing to receive Palestinian prisoners who would be released in exchange. Agency reports
