Israeli soldiers stand guard near their armoured vehicles as they conduct a raid in the eastern neighbourhood of Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday —AFP

Agencies CAIRO

Arab leaders are gathering in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss an alternative to a widely condemned plan from US President Donald Trump to assume control of war-battered Gaza and displace its Palestinian population. The Arab League summit on the territory’s reconstruction comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again gave his backing to Trump’s plan, calling it “visionary and innovative”.

Palestinians, along with the Arab world and many of Israel and the United States’ partners, have condemned Trump’s proposal, rejecting any efforts to expel Palestinians in Gaza. UN estimates have put the cost of Gaza’s reconstruction at more than $53bn (£42bn), after a devastating war triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who supports the annexation of the occupied West Bank, said on Tuesday that he was travelling to the United States for a brief visit.

“The goal of this visit is to strengthen economic cooperation between Israel and the United States... and deepen the strategic alliance between our two countries,” Smotrich wrote on social media platform X. His trip comes with US President Donald Trump expected to announce whether to back the annexation of all or part of the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.