Arab leaders promise to work on reconstruction of Gaza and press for a ceasefire

BAGHDAD AP Arab leaders meeting at an annual summit in Baghdad announced Saturday that they were trying to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and promised to contribute to the reconstruction of the territory once the war stops In March an crisis Arab League summit in Cairo endorsed a plan for Gaza s reconstruction without displacing its roughly million residents The latest summit was attended by Arab leaders including Qatar s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Egypt s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi who noted that even if Israel succeeds in normalizing relations with all Arab states a lasting just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East will remain elusive unless a Palestinian state is established in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions Egypt was the first Arab country to normalize ties with Israel Among the guests were Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S nchez and U N Secretary-General Ant nio Guterres who called for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and the flow of aid into the besieged territory He explained that the U N rejects any forced displacement of Palestinians Saturday s summit comes two months after Israel ended a ceasefire reached with the Hamas militant group in January In current days Israel has launched widespread attacks in Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed a further escalation to pursue his aim of destroying Hamas This genocide has reached levels of ugliness not seen in all conflicts throughout history Iraq s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced in a speech that called for allowing aid to flow into Gaza Al-Sudani added that Iraq will work on setting up an Arab fund for the reconstruction of the region in which Baghdad will pay million for Gaza and a similar amount for Lebanon El-Sissi mentioned that Egypt in coordination with Qatar and the U S is exerting intense efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza adding that the efforts led to the release of Israel-American hostage Edan Alexander He declared that Egypt plans to hold an international conference for the reconstruction of Gaza once the aggression stops Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Hamas to abandon power in Gaza and along with other militant groups to hand over weapons to the Palestinian Authority Hamas seized control of Gaza from Abbas Western-backed Palestinian Authority in and reconciliation attempts between the rivals have repeatedly failed The Baghdad meeting was upstaged by U S President Donald Trump s tour in the region earlier in the week Trump s visit did not usher in a deal for a new ceasefire in Gaza as a multitude of had hoped but he grabbed headlines by meeting with new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa who had once fought against U S forces in Iraq and promising to remove U S sanctions imposed on Syria Al-Sharaa did not attend the summit in Baghdad where Syria s delegation was headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani Iraqi Shiite militias and political factions are wary of al-Sharaa s past as a Sunni militant and had pushed back against his invitation to the summit During Syria s conflict that began in March several Iraqi Shiite militias fought alongside the forces of former Syrian President Bashar Assad making al-Sharaa the present day a particularly sensitive figure for them An Iraqi official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media mentioned that Iran s Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani had paid a visit to Baghdad prior to the summit and conveyed messages of encouragement for the Iranian-American negotiations to reach a nuclear deal and lifting of crippling sanctions on Iran Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this document Source