Middle East crisis live: Trump’s plan for Gaza would ‘squash’ ceasefire and ‘incite return of fighting’, Egypt says | Israel-Gaza war

Trump’s proposal for the US to take control of Gaza would “squash” the ceasefire and “incite a return of fighting”, Egypt has said.

The plan Trump has put forward would involve some of Gaza’s roughly two million residents being displaced into Egypt, which shares a border with the territory.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the country’s military to prepare a plan to allow for the “voluntary departure” of people from Gaza, local media reported.

Apparently referring to the order, Egypt’s foreign ministry said: “Egypt stresses the catastrophic consequences of this irresponsible act which weakens the ceasefire negotiations, and would squash them and incite a return of fighting.”

Egypt, along with Qatar and the US, helped broker the ceasefire deal that brought a halt to the fighting in Gaza last month.

Hamas has called for an urgent summit of the Arab countries following President Trump’s proposal that the US should “take over” Gaza.

The group, which led the 7 October attacks, earlier said it “categorically rejects” the proposal.

We’ll bring you more on that as it comes in.

It is approaching 4.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv, and 6pm in Tehran. Here is a summary of the day so far:

• Israeli defence minister Israel Katz ordered the army on Thursday to prepare a plan to allow the “voluntary departure” of residents from the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported. The instruction followed US president Donald Trump’s shock announcement that the US plans to take over Gaza, resettle the Palestinians living there and transform the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

• When asked who will take in the Palestinians, Katz said it should be countries who have opposed Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Katz added Spain, Ireland and Norway, which last year recognised a Palestinian state, are “legally obligated to allow any Gaza resident to enter their territories”.

• Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares on Thursday rejected the suggestion by Katz that Spain should accept displaced Palestinians from Gaza. “Gazans’ land is Gaza and Gaza must be part of the future Palestinian state,” Albares said in an interview with Spanish radio station RNE.

• Speaking on behalf of the Palestinian president’s office, spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Palestinian territories were “not for sale” and “not an investment project”. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, he said:“Palestine, with its land, history and holy sites, is not for sale, and is not an investment project. The rights of the Palestinian people are not negotiable and are not a bargaining chip.”

• Trump said the “Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting”, in a post on the Truth Social platform on Thursday. He said the US would work with “great development teams from all over the world” and “would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth”. He added: “No soldiers by the US would be needed.”

• Hamas called on all Palestinian factions to unite against Trump’s proposal. Hamas added that it “categorically rejects” Trump’s remarks and Palestinians will not leave Gaza.

• Far-right Israeli politicians supported Katz’s orders for the army to prepare a plan to allow the “voluntary departure” of residents from the Gaza Strip, reported the Times of Israel. Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich congratulated Katz on instructing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and rival far-right leader Itamar Ben-Gvir called Katz’s orders an “important step”.

• UK Foreign Office minister Anneliese Dodds told parliament on Thursday that the UK will oppose any efforts to move Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to neighbouring Arab states against their will. Replying to an urgent question, Dodds told the House of Commons: “There must be no forced displacement of Palestinians nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza Strip.”

• Dodds said the UK government was also “concerned” about the Israeli government’s “expansion of war aims and operations” in the West Bank. She said: “The UK remains opposed to illegal settlements, their expansion and settler violence.”

• Pakistan’s government said that Trump’s proposal to displace the people of Gaza is “deeply troubling and unjust”. It added that “Palestinian land belongs to Palestinian people” and the only viable and just option would be a two-state solution.

• Iran categorically rejected Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Thursday. “The plan to clear Gaza and relocate Palestinians to neighbouring countries is considered a continuation of the Zionist regime’s (Israel) plan to completely wipe out the Palestinian people,” Baghaei wrote on X. Baghaei called upon the UN security council and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to take a clear stance explicitly rejecting Trump’s announcement.

• China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that Beijing opposed the forced transfer of people in Gaza. “Gaza is the Gaza of Palestinians, not a political bargaining chip, let alone the target of a law of the jungle,” ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular press briefing.

• Hezbollah and its allied group the Amal Movement issued a joint statement in which they condemned what they described as the “racist” and “malicious” statements by US president Donald Trump over Gaza, reported Lebanon’s National News Agency.

• Malaysia said on Thursday it “strongly opposes” any plan to forcibly resettle Palestinians from Gaza. “Malaysia strongly opposes any proposal that could lead to the forced displacement or movement of Palestinians from their homeland,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

• Israel informed the United Nations human rights council (OHCHR) on Thursday that it would be formally withdrawing from the body. In a message posted to social media, foreign minister Gideon Saar said: “The decision was reached in light of the ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel in the human rights council, which has been persistent since its inception in 2006.” Donald Trump confirmed earlier this week he was withdrawing the US from the United Nations human rights council, as he had done so during his first term in office.

• The United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories said on Thursday that Israel’s decision to withdraw from the UN human rights council was “extremely serious”. “It shows the hubris and the lack of realisation of what they have done. They insist in self-righteousness, that they have nothing to be held accountable for, and they are proving it to the entire international community,” Francesca Albanese told Reuters.

• An Israeli military court sentenced a soldier to seven months in prison after he admitted to “severely abusing” Palestinians at a detention facility near the border with Gaza, the army said on Thursday. “The defendant was convicted for several incidents in which he punched the detainees with his fists and used his weapon while they were handcuffed and blindfolded,” the army said in a statement.

• The healthcare system in the occupied West Bank has been in “a state of perpetual emergency” since October 2023, Doctors Without Borders said in a new report published on Thursday. “A dramatic escalation in violence, marked by prolonged Israeli military incursions and stricter movement restrictions … have severely hindered access to essential services, particularly healthcare, exacerbating already dire living conditions for many Palestinians,” it said.

• The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its teams are providing relief support to families in the Tulkarm refugee camp. In a post on X on Thursday, the PRCS said: “Our teams continue to provide relief support to the families in #Tulkarm camp, despite the ongoing siege by the occupation for the tenth consecutive day, amid systematic destruction of infrastructure, including roads and streets.”

• Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian said it would be easy to verify Iran was not developing atomic weapons, state TV reported on Thursday, a day after US president Donald Trump said he would like to have a verified nuclear peace agreement with Tehran. Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon as the mass killing of innocent people is prohibited in the Islamic Republic’s doctrine, Pezeshkian said in a televised meeting with foreign ambassadors in Tehran.

• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards unveiled the country’s first drone carrier on Thursday in Gulf waters, state media reported. The carrier, called the Martyr Bahman Bagheri, is a commercial vessel that was repurposed as a drone carrier over the past two-and-a-half years, Guards naval commander Alireza Tangsiri said during the unveiling ceremony.

An Israeli military court sentenced a soldier to seven months in prison after he admitted to “severely abusing” Palestinians at a detention facility near the border with Gaza, the army said on Thursday.

“The defendant was convicted for several incidents in which he punched the detainees with his fists and used his weapon while they were handcuffed and blindfolded,” the army said in a statement, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Israel has informed the United Nations human rights council (OHCHR) it is formally withdrawing from the body.

In a message posted to social media, Reuters reports foreign minister Gideon Saar said “The decision was reached in light of the ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel in the human rights council, which has been persistent since its inception in 2006.”

Early in the Israel-Gaza conflict the OHCHR said that “there is already clear evidence that war crimes may have been committed in the latest explosion of violence in Israel and Gaza.”

Donald Trump confirmed earlier this week he was withdrawing the US from the United Nations human rights council, as he had done so during his first term in office.

Speaking on behalf of the Palestinian president’s office, spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh has said Palestinian territories are “not for sale” and “not an investment project.”

Palestinian news agency Wafa quotes him saying “Palestine, with its land, history and holy sites, is not for sale, and is not an investment project. The rights of the Palestinian people are not negotiable and are not a bargaining chip.”

He said that the Palestinian people “will not give up an inch of their land, whether in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the capital of the state of Palestine.”

He continued, adding “The Palestinian people and their leadership will not allow the repetition of the catastrophes of 1948 and 1967, and will thwart any plan aimed at liquidating their just cause through investment projects.”

In his latest post on the Truth Social platform, Donald Trump said the “Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting”.

On Thursday, the US president wrote:

The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region. They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free.

The US, working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth. No soldiers by the US would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”

Earlier this week Trump said, in a shock announcement, that the US will “take over” and “own” the Gaza Strip. The US president said he envisioned a “long-term” US ownership of the territory after all Palestinians were moved elsewhere. He did not explain how and under what authority the US can take over the land of Gaza.

The PA news agency has more details on the comments by UK Foreign Office minister Anneliese Dodds, who told parliament that the UK will oppose any efforts to move Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to neighbouring Arab states against their will.

Dodds issued a clear rejection of a proposal from US president Donald Trump for the United States to consider taking ownership of the Gaza Strip.

Replying to an urgent question, Dodds told the House of Commons:

Palestinians must determine the future of Gaza with support from regional states and the wider international community.

We would oppose any effort to move Palestinians in Gaza to neighbouring Arab states against their will. There must be no forced displacement of Palestinians nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian civilians should be able to return to and rebuild their homes and their lives – that is a right guaranteed under international law.

Gaza is home to two million Palestinians and remains an integral part of what must become a future Palestinian state, with Palestinians living next to Israelis in peace and security.”

Dodds said the US had played a “critical” role in negotiating the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, adding:

We must now work together to ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full and becomes permanent.”

Dodds said the UK government is also “concerned” about the Israeli government’s “expansion of war aims and operations” in the West Bank. She said:

Stability is essential at this crucial time. We recognise Israel’s right to defend itself and the continuing threat posed by armed groups, but it must show restraint and ensure the scale and conduct of its operations are commensurate to the threat posed.

Civilians must be protected and the destruction of civilian infrastructure minimised.

The UK remains opposed to illegal settlements, their expansion and settler violence.”

In her concluding remarks, Dodds said:

Our attention must now turn to how we secure a permanently better future for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, grounded – to reiterate the point a final time – in a two-state solution.”