Egypt steps up Gaza peace diplomacy as Arab states push back on US draft

Egypt's foreign minister has pushed for advancing to the second phase of the Gaza peace deal in talks with his European counterparts.

Badr Abdelatty held separate phone conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

He reaffirmed Egypt's commitment to ensuring the implementation of the peace agreement signed in Sharm el-Sheikh last month, emphasizing the importance of fully executing its provisions.

Abdelatty urged progress toward the second phase of the United States-backed plan, which includes political, developmental and humanitarian dimensions — beginning with early recovery and reconstruction — and ensuring that aid reaches Gaza in quantities commensurate with the needs of its population.

He also outlined arrangements for Egypt's hosting of an international conference on Gaza's early recovery and reconstruction later this month.

The diplomatic outreach came as Israel and Hamas continued exchanging prisoners and remains of deceased hostages, just days after the US pushed for the United Nations Security Council to adopt its draft resolution on the Gaza peace plan.

US President Donald Trump said last week that he expected a US-coordinated international stabilization force to be on the ground in Gaza "very soon".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had earlier said that any entity sent to the Palestinian territory must have a UN mandate, a view widely shared by Arab peace partners.

On Thursday, the UN Security Council began negotiations on a US-drafted resolution to endorse the Gaza peace plan, which includes a two-year mandate for a transitional governing body and an international stabilization force.

A day before, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz convened the elected members of the UN Security Council and welcomed Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates to the meeting, "demonstrating regional support for the resolution to the UN Security Council on Gaza", according to a statement by the US Mission to the UN.

Significant changes

However, The Times of Israel reported on Saturday that while the US has held consultations on the resolution with other Security Council members, it has not been open to making any significant changes, citing a diplomat interviewed by The New York Times.

One of the few changes made over the past several days was reportedly about the handover of Gaza's administration from the US-envisioned Board of Peace to the Palestinian Authority. But an initial proposal said the transfer would not take place until the Palestinian Authority "has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the (Board of Peace)".

In parallel, Middle Eastern media reported that Arab nations are pushing back against a US-supported proposal to rebuild a "New Gaza" in Israeli-occupied areas of the enclave. Lebanon's Al Mayadeen reported that Arab states are particularly concerned that the temporary boundary along the so-called Yellow Line could become permanent.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Gaza is "one and part of the Palestinian Territories" and called for a clear timeline for Israel's withdrawal. Gaza's death toll from Israel's military operation hit 69,000 on Saturday as more bodies were recovered under the rubble.

Amid talks of a stabilization force, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on the weekend that he has instructed the military to destroy and eliminate all "terror tunnels" in Gaza.

Until the return of all the hostages and the elimination of the last tunnel, "we will continue to operate with force to realize our goals in Gaza", he said on X.

Arhama Siddiqa, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, told China Daily that Israel's attempt to anchor Trump's 20-point plan within a UN Security Council resolution could be read as an effort to lend legitimacy to a deeply asymmetrical, occupation-preserving framework through multilateral means.

"Regarding Arab reactions, even states that have cautiously welcomed a ceasefire architecture have openly resisted any arrangement that entrenches Israeli control or strips Palestinians of sovereign agency," she said.

"Egypt and Jordan have rejected displacement scenarios outright; the Arab League has challenged the erosion of Palestinian political rights; and regional public opinion remains deeply hostile to any formula perceived as normalizing Israeli impunity."