Gaza: Egypt, Jordan step up efforts to counter Trump proposal

Egypt's president welcomed Jordan's Crown Prince on Sunday in Cairo as the two countries continue to work on a plan to rebuild Gaza without displacing the Palestinians.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Al Hussein bin Abdullah II spoke on latest developments in the Palestinian territories, efforts to implement the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, exchange of hostages and detainees and the humanitarian aid access.

Al Hussein's visit came after Jordan's King Abdullah II met last week with the U.S. president Donald Trump who doubled down on his vows to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians, saying they would not be allowed to return.

Trump suggested at one point he might force Egypt and Jordan to take Palestinians in by threatening to cut off U.S. aid.

Egypt will host an Arab summit on Feb. 27 and is working with other countries on a counterproposal that would allow for Gaza to be rebuilt without removing its population.

Human rights groups say the expulsion of Palestinians would likely violate international law.

Egypt has warned that any mass influx of Palestinians from Gaza would undermine its nearly half-century peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of U.S. influence in the region.

Arab and Muslim countries have conditioned any support for postwar Gaza on a return to Palestinian governance with a pathway to statehood in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories that Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel has ruled out a Palestinian state and any role in Gaza for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, whose forces were driven out when Hamas seized power there in 2007.