Here is a summary of today's events
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday he supported an Arab-led initiative to mobilise support for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Egypt presented a plan for reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday at an Arab League summit in Cairo. The plan, seen by Reuters, aims to counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a Middle East “Riviera” in the Gaza Strip.
More details emerged of Egypt’s plan for rebuilding the Gaza Strip. The plan, published today, sets out proposals to rebuild the area by 2030 without removing its population. Hundreds of thousands of temporary housing units would be set up where Gaza’s population could live while reconstruction takes place. The rubble would be recycled, and some of it would be used as infill to create expanded lands on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. It also calls for opening an airport, a fishing port and a commercial port.
Israel’s top diplomat charged Tuesday that humanitarian aid had become the “number one source of revenue” for Hamas, as he defended his government’s decision to block all deliveries to Gaza.
Lebanese official media said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south on Tuesday killed one person, the latest deadly raid amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP Tuesday that disarming is a red line for his movement and other Palestinian militant groups in negotiations to extend the fragile Gaza ceasefire.
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.
UN secretary general supports Arab-led initiative for Gaza reconstruction
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday he supported an Arab-led initiative to mobilise support for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
Egypt presented a plan for reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday at an Arab League summit in Cairo. The plan, seen by Reuters, aims to counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a Middle East “Riviera” in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking at the Cairo summit, Guterres also called for the resumption “without delay” of negotiations on continuing a ceasefire in Gaza, and he expressed concern over an escalation of violence in the West Bank.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Tuesday he was certain that US president Donald Trump would be able to achieve peace on what he referred to as the Palestinian issue.
Speaking during an extraordinary Arab League summit, he said Egypt would be hosting a conference for Gaza reconstruction next month.
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Arab leaders consider Egypt's plans to rebuild Gaza Strip by removing unexploded ordnance, clearing rubble and creating green housing
More details are emerging of Egypt’s plan for rebuilding the Gaza Strip. The plan, published today, sets out proposals to rebuild the area by 2030 without removing its population.
The $53bn plan is counters Donald Trump’s widely condemned call to remove Gaza’s around two million Palestinians permanently so the US can develop the territory as a tourist site for others.
According to an Associated Press report, the first phase of the Egyptian plan, which is expected to be endorsed by Middle Eastern leaders later on Tuesday, calls for starting the removal of unexploded ordnance and clearing the more than 50 million tons of rubble left by Israel’s bombardment and military offensives.
Hundreds of thousands of temporary housing units would be set up where Gaza’s population could live while reconstruction takes place. The rubble would be recycled, and some of it would be used as infill to create expanded lands on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast.
In the following years, the plan envisages completely reshaping the strip, building “sustainable, green and walkable” housing and urban areas, with renewable energy. It renovates agricultural lands and creates industrial zones and large park areas.
It also calls for opening an airport, a fishing port and a commercial port. The Oslo peace accords in the 1990s called for the opening of an airport and commercial port in Gaza, but of these only an airport was built, in 1998, and it was closed and then destroyed within about three years as the peace process collapsed.
• This post was amended on 4 March 2025. An earlier version said Oslo accord plans to build an airport and fishing port in Gaza were not implemented. The former was built; the latter was not.
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Last June, Mazyouna, now 13, was at home when her apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza was hit by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) rocket. The blast threw Mazyouna and her mother out on to the street. Her little sister Tala was buried under the rubble but found alive.
The bodies of her siblings, Hala, 13, and Mohannad, 10, were pulled out of the wreckage in the hours after the attack.
Mazyouna survived, but half of her face had been ripped off in the explosion; part of her cheek was missing, leaving her jawbone exposed. Medics at the hospital did what they could, but Gaza’s crippled healthcare system was unable to provide her with the specialist care she required.
For five months, as Mazyouna’s wounds became infected and she suffered constant pain from the shrapnel still lodged in her face, her parents repeatedly tried to get permission from Cogat, the Israeli government body for humanitarian affairs, for her to be medically evacuated to the US, where a team of surgeons was waiting to treat her.
Finally, in November, after the Guardian reported on Mazyouna’s case, she, her mother and sister were allowed to leave Gaza and travelled with three other critically injured children to the other side of the world, arriving in Texas.
Now the Guardian have followed her progress, you can read the piece from my colleague Thaslima Begum, here
Reuters has more on Israel’s claims that it killed a Hamas militant leader in a raid in the West Bank overnight into Tuesday.
The Palestinian Authority said Aisar Saadia, 21, was killed by Israeli fire in the volatile city of Jenin, where Israel has been waging a major military operation for weeks. It did not say whether he was a fighter or a civilian.
The Israeli military identified Saadia as a local leader of Hamas and said he was hiding out with an assault rifle, a handgun and other military equipment. The military said it killed another militant who posed a threat and arrested three others.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
The Israeli military has said it had expanded its offensive in the occupied West Bank, Agence France-Presse reports, to new parts of the northern city of Jenin. The operation is currently in its 43rd day.
Israeli forces “expanded the counterterrorism operation in northern Samaria to additional areas in Jenin”, the military said, using the Biblical name for that part of the West Bank, adding it killed two Palestinians including a local Hamas leader during the overnight raid.
Arab leaders meeting in Cairo on Tuesday are set to call for a “permanent and just solution” for the Palestinian cause as they endorse a counterproposal to U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for the Gaza Strip to be depopulated and transformed into a beach destination.
The summit hosted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is expected to include the leaders of regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose support is crucial for any postwar plan.
Egypt has developed a postwar plan in which Palestinians would be relocated to safe areas inside Gaza 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.
A draft statement endorsing the plan, seen by AP, called for a “permanent and just solution” for the Palestinian cause and for the United Nations Security Council to deploy international peacekeepers in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel says aid has become 'number one source of revenue' for Hamas
Israel’s top diplomat charged Tuesday that humanitarian aid had become the “number one source of revenue” for Hamas, as he defended his government’s decision to block all deliveries to Gaza.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said the Israeli move “threatens the lives of civilians exhausted by 16 months of brutal war”.
Israel announced on Sunday that it would halt the entry of aid into Gaza after negotiations over next steps in a fragile January 19 ceasefire in the Palestinian territory hit an impasse.
“Humanitarian aid became the number one source of income of Hamas in Gaza,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said. “With that money they use for terror to restore their abilities and to get more young terrorists into their organisation.”
The UNRWA chief called on Israel to allow the aid surge agreed under the ceasefire to continue.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday Israel was ready to proceed to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, as long as Hamas was ready to release more of the 59 hostages it is still holding.
“We are ready to continue to phase two,” Saar told reporters in Jerusalem as Arab leaders prepared to meet in Cairo to discuss a plan for ending the war permanently.
“But in order to extend the time or the framework, we need an agreement to release more hostages.”
Saar denied that Israel had breached the ceasefire agreement by not moving ahead to stage two negotiations. He said there was “no automaticity” between the stages and he said Hamas had itself violated the agreement to allow aid into Gaza by seizing most of the supplies itself.
“It is a means to continue the war against Israel. It’s today the major part of Hamas income in Gaza,” he said.
Israeli drone strike killed one, Lebanese media state
Lebanese official media said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south on Tuesday killed one person, the latest deadly raid amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“An enemy drone launched a strike” targeting a vehicle in Tyre district, killing one person, the National News Agency said.
It published an image of a burning, mangled car.
A November 27 truce agreement largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war during which Israel sent in ground troops.
Details of Egypt's £42bn reconstruction plan for Gaza revealed
Egypt’s reconstruction plan for Gaza will cost $53bn (£42bn), according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
The 112-page plan includes maps showing how Gaza’s land would be re-developed and dozens of colourful AI-generated images of housing developments, gardens and community centres.
The plan includes a commercial harbour, a technology hub and beach hotels.
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Lebanese official media said Israel carried out a drone strike in the south on Tuesday, the latest such raid amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“An enemy drone launched a strike” in Tyre district, the National News Agency said, publishing an image of a burning, mangled car.
An Arab summit draft communique on Tuesday adopted an Egyptian plan for Gaza’s future and called on the international community and financial institutions to provide support for the plan quickly.
Hamas leader says disarming 'a red line' amid Gaza truce impasse
Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP Tuesday that disarming is a red line for his movement and other Palestinian militant groups in negotiations to extend the fragile Gaza ceasefire.
“Any talk about the resistance’s weapons is nonsense. The resistance’s weapons are a red line for Hamas and all resistance factions,” Abu Zuhri said shortly after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar demanded the “full demilitarisation” of Gaza to proceed to the second stage of the January truce.
Lebanon’s president ended a visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday where he discussed regional affairs with the kingdom’s crown prince after which both countries said Israeli troops should withdraw from south Lebanon and only the Lebanese state should have weapons.
The visit by Joseph Aoun, the first by a Lebanese head of state to the oil-rich kingdom in eight years, improves ties between the two countries that have been cold for years over Iran’s influence in Lebanon. Aoun was received Monday night by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Yamama Palace in the capital, Riyadh, where they discussed the situation in Lebanon and boosting relations between the two countries, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
Aoun’s visit comes after the Iran-backed Hezbollah suffered severe blows during a 14-month war with Israel that left many of its top political and military officials dead and ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in late November. Israel withdrew many of its troops from Lebanon in mid-February but left five posts inside Lebanon, which Lebanese officials have described as a violation of the ceasefire deal.
A joint statement issued after the summit said that only state institutions in Lebanon should have the right to have arms and that the Lebanese army should be supported. It added that Israel should withdraw from all parts of Lebanon.
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Israel says it needs agreement on freeing hostages to extend Gaza ceasefire deal
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday Israel was ready to continue to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal but needs an agreement on the release of hostages held by Hamas to extend the framework.
Saar accused the Palestinian militant group of using aid to continue fighting Israel, saying this could not continue.
Jordanian ambulances crossed into Gaza through the Keren Shalom gate shortly before 11am this morning to collect 30 wounded and sick children - part of a medevac plan to transfer 2000 child patients in most immediate need of medical attention to Amman.
Four other children, the most urgent cases, were due to be flown out by Jordanian Air Force helicopters. The Keren Shalom crossing, the only route for aid into Gaza during the ceasefire, was quiet except for a few Israeli soldiers and the Jordanian vehicles.
Benjamin Netanyahu blocked access for humanitarian assistance on Sunday and nothing has passed through Kerem Shalom since then.
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Iran said Turkey’s criticism of its foreign policy risked worsening ties between the neighbouring countries, after Islamist rebels allied with Ankara ousted Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
In an interview with Al Jazeera in February, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Iran risked plunging the Middle East into “disorder”.
Iran leads the so-called “axis of resistance” against Israel, which includes Hamas in the Palestinian territories, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Huthi rebels in Yemen and armed groups in Iraq.
On Monday, Iran hit back, with Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahmoud Heydari warning against “false statements and unrealistic analysis that could lead to differences and tensions”.
Heydari made his remarks during what Tehran described as a meeting with Turkey’s ambassador in Iran, Hicabi Kirlangic.
Israeli minister who supports annexing occupied West Bank to visit US
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.
Smotrich, an ultranationalist settler whose support is key to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s parliamentary majority, said he would meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as well as other US government officials.
He has said on several occasions since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack triggered war that Israel should push for Palestinians to leave Gaza and the West Bank, and that it should take control of them.
The first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza expired over the weekend – and now, the only thing stopping the resumption of Israel’s assault on the territory is the will of Benjamin Netanyahu. That is the bleak reality for the hostages still alive in Gaza, and the Palestinian civilians there who were subjected to a new aid embargo on Sunday. Last night, the Israeli government was reported to be planning to ratchet the blockade up further – with a programme of measures referred to as the “hell plan”.
In today’s newsletter: With talks stalled, aid blocked and a truce in question, can the path to peace get back on track? Read our full breifing for Tuesday here:
Israel this week introduced what it said was a new US ceasefire plan – different from the one it agreed to in January – and is trying to force Hamas to accept it by imposing a siege on the Gaza Strip, AP reporters explain.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to it as the “Witkoff proposal,” saying it came from U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff. But the White House has yet to confirm that, saying only that it supports whatever action Israel takes.
Netanyahu’s remarks came a day after the first phase of the negotiated ceasefire ended, with no clarity on what would come next since the agreement’s second phase has not yet been hammered out.
The new plan would require Hamas to release half its remaining hostages - the militant group’s main bargaining chip – in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners – a key component of the first phase.
Hamas has accused Israel of trying to sabotage the existing agreement, which called for the two sides to negotiate the return of the remaining hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire. But no substantive negotiations have been held.
On Sunday, Israel halted all food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s population of 2 million people and vowed “additional consequences” if Hamas did not embrace the new proposal.
Arab leaders are meanwhile finalizing a separate plan for postwar Gaza to counter Trump’s suggestion that its population be relocated so it can be transformed into a tourist destination.
But all bets are off if the war resumes.
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Arab leaders gather to hash out alternative to Trump's Gaza plan
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.
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