Gaza dominates Arab League Summit as leaders push for ceasefire and pledge to work on reconstruction

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and UN General-Secretary António Guterres attended the annual Arab League Summit, as leaders from Arab nations reiterated their push for a Gaza ceasefire and promised to contribute to the territory's reconstruction.

Arab leaders gathered in Baghdad on Saturday for the annual Arab League Summit, where they announced they were working on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and vowed to contribute to the enclave's reconstruction.The summit in the Iraqi capital was attended by Arab leaders including Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also attended as a guest, as did UN Secretary-General António Guterres.The Spanish prime minister, who in a speech to the Spanis parliament on Wednesday called Israel a "genocidal state", urged the international community to apply pressure on Israel "to halt the massacre in Gaza."Guterres called for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and the flow of aid into the territory, which has been under a total blockade by Israel for more than two months. He also said the UN rejects any "forced displacement" of Palestinians.Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called for allowing aid to flow back into Gaza, which has been under a total blockade by Israel since early March. "This genocide has reached levels of ugliness not seen in all conflicts throughout history," he said, adding that Iraq will work on setting up an Arab fund for the region's reconstructionom which his country will pay $20 million for Gaza and a roughly similar amount for Lebanon.Egypt's el-Sissi said that his country was coordinating with Qatar and the US in "exerting intense efforts to reach a ceasefire", and that Egypt plans to hold an international conference for the Gaza's reconstruction "once the aggression stops".Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is leader of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the West Bank and holds no authority over Hamas in Gaza, urged the militant group to hand over its weapons to the PNA. A notable absentee was new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who sent his foreign minister instead. Iraqi Shiite militias and political factions wary of al-Sharaa’s past as a Sunni militant pushed back against his invitation to the summit.Al-Sharaa did nevertheless meet US President Donald Trump earlier in the week, who promised to remove US-imposed sanctions on Syria.'Operation Gideon's Chariots'The day before the summit took place, Israel announced the launching of a new announced a new phase in its Gaza offensive called "Gideon's Chariots", under which the IDF said it was "conducting extensive strikes and mobilising troops to achieve operational control in the areas of Gaza."The UN Secretary-General responded to the news by saying he was "alarmed by reported plans by Israel to expand ground operations and more."Separate to Israel's announcement of an expanded offensive, Euronews revealed the existence of documents dated December 2023 which revealed that creating a new entity in Gaza "the day after" a defeat of Hamas is one of the proposals the Israeli government has on the table.The meeting in Baghdad was the 34th Arab League Summit, where Arab leaders gather to address regional matters. The League was formed in 1945 and currently comprises of 22 members.