Egypt on Wednesday once again dismissed a proposal from opposition leader Yair Lapid suggesting that Cairo take control of Gaza, calling the idea "unacceptable" and inconsistent with long-standing Egyptian and Arab policies, AFP reported.
"Any notions or proposals that circumvent the constants of the Egyptian and Arab stance (on Gaza)... are rejected and unacceptable," Foreign Ministry spokesman Tamim Khallaf stated, as reported by the official MENA news agency.
His remarks came a day after Lapid put forward the suggestion.
Khallaf emphasized that any proposal bypassing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state amounted to a "half-solution" that would only prolong the conflict rather than resolve it.
He stressed that Gaza, along with Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem, are integral parts of Palestinian territory that must be under "full Palestinian sovereignty and management."
The comments mark the second time that Egypt has dismissed Lapid’s plan. On Tuesday, unnamed Egyptian sources rejected the plan and said that "Cairo rejects any proposal to manage the Gaza Strip. Gaza will be managed by the Palestinians and in coordination with them. Cairo is committed to rebuilding Gaza without displacement."
Egypt, which has previously rejected US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to take over Gaza and rehabilitate it while Gazans are relocated to neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan, is floating its own plan for the Strip.
Last week, the Egyptian state-run Al-Ahram newspaper provided some details on the Egyptian plan to reconstruct the Gaza Strip without relocating its residents to other countries.
The report said that the plan will temporarily relocate Gazans to “secure areas” in the strip while Egyptian and other foreign construction firms rebuild Gaza.
The Associated Press cited two Egyptian officials who noted that the plan envisions the creation of a "Palestinian administration," unaligned with Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, to run the Strip and oversee reconstruction efforts.
The new administration would include a police force mostly consisting of former Palestinian Authority policemen who remained in Gaza after Hamas took over the Strip in 2007, with reinforcement from Egyptian- and Western-trained forces.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi last week met in Riyadh with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, and Qatar to discuss his country’s alternative to Trump’s plan.
Before the summit in Riyadh, Sisi urged the global community to support a plan for rebuilding Gaza without forcing its residents to leave.
Speaking at a press conference in Madrid alongside Spain's prime minister, the Egyptian President stated, “We stressed the importance of the international community adopting a plan to reconstruct the Gaza strip without displacing Palestinians -- I repeat, without displacing Palestinians from their lands."