CAIRO (Reuters) – United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed in a phone call efforts for reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, Emirati state news agency WAM reported on Tuesday, as Israel resumed its military offensive in the enclave last week.
The Israeli military resumed fighting in Gaza on March 18, shattering a fragile two-month ceasefire. Since then, nearly 700 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials.
In his phone call with Trump, the Emirati president also urged making aid available for Gaza residents as well as supporting the two-state solution, WAM reported.
In early February, Trump presented his plan for Gaza which entailed displacing Palestinians and creating a Middle East “Riviera”. The proposal drew condemnations from many global leaders.
Arab states including the UAE adopted an Egyptian alternative reconstruction plan for Gaza that would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians.
WAM’s report did not mention if the two leaders discussed those plans.
Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to UAE’s president, said on February 26 that a Gaza reconstruction plan cannot happen without a clear path to a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.
The UAE is among the few Arab states that normalised ties with Israel in 2020 in U.S.-brokered agreements under Trump.
Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza which resumed last week has killed a total of more than 50,000 people. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023 when Hamas militants stormed across the border, and Israel said the militants killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people into captivity in Gaza.
(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha and Muhammad Al Gebaly; Editing by David Gregorio)
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