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On Thursday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gave thought to the idea of holding a donors conference and use it to rebuild devastated Gaza, the Egyptian presidency said.
Abbas and Sisi, who have discussed ways to end Israel’s aerial campaign on the enclave, also agreed to open Israeli crossing to the besieged strip and facilitate movement of goods and people. It was not made clear, however, if they were referring to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only passage which bypasses Israel.
The two met amid intensifying efforts to end the conflict between Hamas and Israel, who resumed launching strikes on each other after a brief pause in the hostilities on Thursday on humanitarian grounds.
“The two presidents agreed on the urgency of holding a donors conference to immediately start rebuilding the Gaza Strip”, a statement from the President’s office read.
It also said that Abbas and Sisi had agreed on the “necessity of an immediate ceasefire” based on an Egyptian plan to end the conflict in which at least 237 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s Operation Protective Edge since July 8th. In stark contrast, only one Israeli has died in the conflict so far.
Cairo is once again the diplomatic hub to bring the fighting in Gaza to an end, after Egypt had initially proposed an unsuccessful truce without discussing its terms with Hamas.
The Palestinian movement has given a set of conditions to be fulfilled, chief among them being thelifting of Israeli blockade on Gaza, opening the Rafah crossing with Egypt and release of Palestinian prisoners who had been re-arrested by Israeli authorities after being freed in exchange for the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit.
Abbas had met with Hamas deputy leader Mussa Abu Marzuq in Cairo on Wednesday, Marzuq insisted on the changes to the truce plan, asking for guarantees to opening of border crossings to Gaza.