UAE will remain engaged with Gaza, offer humanitarian support: Gargash

Dubai: The UAE has firmly denied any plans to administer Gaza, pushing back against growing speculation over the country’s potential role in the war-torn territory.

Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, Dr Anwar Gargash, the Diplomatic Advisor to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, said reports suggesting the UAE could take on a civilian administration role in Gaza were “not true”.

“We have come out with a refutation of that,” Gargash said, adding that the UAE does not have its own agenda to govern the enclave.

The comments come amid intense regional and international discussions over Gaza’s future, including who could help manage the territory once the current phase of conflict ends.

Gargash stressed that while the UAE would remain engaged, its role would focus on humanitarian support and political coordination, not on administration.

The UAE, he said, was one of the largest humanitarian donors to Gaza, contributing around 45 per cent of total aid during a particularly difficult two-year period. That support, he added, would continue.

“We will be very much engaged,” Gargash said, “but we don’t have a UAE agenda in Gaza.”

Any path forward, he said, would require close coordination with Palestinians, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the United States, underlining that no single country could act alone.

The senior Emirati official also cautioned against unilateral moves, including proposals by individual countries to deploy ground forces in Gaza.

“You need consensus,” he said, adding that any international presence must be part of a wider, coordinated framework rather than a “lone player”.

Gargash repeatedly returned to the need for a political solution, arguing that lasting stability could not be achieved through confrontation alone.

“The way forward is political,” he said, pointing to the need to address Palestinian statehood and Israeli security at the same time. US President Donald Trump has put forward a 20-point peace initiative aimed at ending the Gaza conflict, including a ceasefire, hostage releases, demilitarisation of Hamas and rebuilding Gaza under international oversight. Progress in this matter so far has been mixed and contested.

Early last year, Trump made headlines with a much more dramatic proposal in which he suggested the U.S. would “take over” and “own” Gaza after the war and rebuild it.