Information has emerged about the United Arab Emirates’ purported strategy to counteract Gaza, remove its residents and dismantle it as a center of Palestinian opposition that might challenge Israeli occupation in the future.
Reports indicate that the UAE is exerting pressure on Egypt by presenting a detailed political agreement aimed at persuading Cairo to endorse a plan for the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza. This plan was initially put forward by U.S. President Donald Trump and has been largely dismissed by Arab nations, especially Egypt and Jordan.
UAE is working to shape an arrangement that fulfils Egypt’s baseline needs, such as holding some form of opposition within Gaza and bypassing the total depopulation of the region. In return for its collaboration, Egypt would accept financial backing. The UAE has established itself as an intermediary between the U.S. and Egypt to promote the agreement.
UAE’s subtle efforts to redesign Gaza
Although the UAE’s proposals seem to back Arab reconstruction initiatives in Gaza, sources indicate that their true aim is to eliminate all resistance fighters from the region and to establish strategies that coincide with Israel’s goal of neutralizing Gaza as a potential threat in the future.
This agenda reportedly includes resettling resistance members to third-party nations, not Egypt, with Israeli coordination, and blocking their return. Elderly relatives may be permitted to stay in Gaza, which will subsequently be reconstructed according to specific security arrangements mandated by Israel.
The UAE has also projected investment endeavours in Gaza, which have acquired Israeli support and were examined during UAE National Security Advisor Tahnoun bin Zayed’s recent visit to the USA.
Moreover, Le Monde revealed what it characterised as the UAE’s duplicity concerning the war in Gaza—publicly standing with Arab agreement on Palestine while deepening strategic relations with Israel. French historian Jean-Pierre Filiu explained this as the UAE’s Gaza trilogy, where the UAE outwardly advocates Palestinian rights but privately supports Trump’s controversial program to turn Gaza into a “Middle Eastern French Riviera” after population depletion.
Filiu stated that this rhetoric was quoted in Dubai by Yousef Al-Otaiba, the UAE’s long-serving ambassador to the USA and a major figure in lobbying the U.S. government. Al-Otaiba performed a central part in the 2020 Abraham Accords, which normalised ties between the UAE and Israel—an arrangement widely criticised in the Arab world as a disloyalty of the Palestinian cause.
UAE Assistance in Gaza: Prioritizing Strategy Over Solidarity
Filiu suggests that Al-Otaiba’s comments reveal the UAE leadership’s broader strategic intentions, even though the UAE officially endorses Arab statements advocating for a Palestinian state. This alignment with the Trump-Netanyahu’ Peace to Prosperity” plan—dismissed by Palestinians for encouraging annexation—persists in shaping Emirati policy.
UAE is also reportedly operating to sabotage Mahmoud Abbas’s influence in Gaza by supporting his opponent, Mohammed Dahlan, a Gaza-born ex-Fatah leader who now lives in the UAE. Although Dahlan’s followers are visual in refugee centers, They have not gone back to Gaza because of Hamas’s control and the restrictions imposed operations.
Due to the absence of reliable Palestinian political partners, the UAE initiated a humanitarian effort in March 2024, collaborating with the U.S.-based NGO World Central Kitchen to transport maritime aid to Gaza from Cyprus. Unfortunately, this initiative fell apart after an Israeli airstrike on April 1, 2024, resulting in the deaths of three international volunteers, three British security personnel, and a Palestinian driver.
While the UAE subsequently dispatched 2,500 aid trucks through Egypt, this amount only met Gaza’s fundamental needs. Efforts to stop Egyptian intermediaries from manipulating the aid for political advantage largely failed, which weakened the UAE’s portrayal of underlying humanitarian leadership.
Symbolic Support, Tactical Quietude
Filiu noted that the people of Gaza valued the Emirati assistance—food, clothing, and medical supplies—and that President Mohammed bin Zayed facilitated the evacuation of hundreds of injured individuals to Abu Dhabi. However, the magnitude of this effort did not meet Gaza’s true needs, which are estimated to require 12,000 medical evacuations.
The historian stated that UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed’s visit to the White House—occurring alongside the renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza and followed by a dinner with Donald Trump—represented implicit Emirati endorsement of the current conflict, particularly due to the lack of any public reference to the humanitarian crisis.