CAIRO >> Arab leaders on Tuesday endorsed Egypt’s postwar plan for the Gaza Strip that would allow its roughly 2 million Palestinians to remain, in a counterproposal to U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to depopulate the territory and redevelop it as a beach destination.

The $53 billion plan’s endorsement by Arab leaders at a summit in Cairo amounted to a rejection of Trump’s proposal. The summit conclusions were welcomed by Hamas, rejected by Israel and given a lukewarm response by the Trump administration.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi expressed his appreciation for “the consensus among the Arab countries to support the reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip, which allows the Palestinian People to stay on their land without displacement.”

In a social media post after the summit, el-Sissi said he looked forward to working with Trump, other Arab nations and the international community “to adopt a plan that aims for a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian Issue, ends the root causes of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, guarantees the security and stability of the peoples of the region and establishes the Palestinian State.”

White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes dismissed the Egyptian proposal as unworkable.

“The current proposal does not address the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance,” Hughes said. “President Trump stands by his vision to rebuild Gaza free from Hamas. We look forward to further talks to bring peace and prosperity to the region.”

A spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry, Oren Marmorstein, posted on X that the Egyptian plan “fails to address the realities of the situation” and said the summit’s joint communique does not mention Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war or condemn the militant group. The plan, he said, remains “rooted in outdated perspectives.”