Egypt's president called on the international community to adopt a plan to rebuild Gaza after Israel's bombardment without displacing Palestinians, following a proposal by US President Donald Trump that angered Arab states.
"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," President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told a press conference with Spain's prime minister in Madrid.
Mr Trump has proposed a plan to redevelop the tiny enclave - destroyed by Israeli bombing - into an international beach resort after resettling its Palestinian inhabitants.
He called on Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinians.
Egypt and Jordan, along with other Arab states, rejected the plan and said they will work on an alternative to counter Mr Trump's proposal, but there are no signs they are making serious progress.
Mr Sisi added that the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), which provides aid, health and education services to millions of Palestinians was indispensable.
UNRWA said its operations in Gaza and West Bank will suffer after an Israeli law banned it in October on Israeli land - including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognised internationally - and contact with Israeli authorities from 30 January.
The United Arab Emirates' President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told the US secretary of state Marco Rubio that his country rejects a proposal to displace Palestinians from their land, the Emirati state news agency WAM reported.
The leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE and Qatar are expected to discuss the plan in Riyadh this month before it can be presented to an Arab League summit in Cairo in March.
