The following is the transcript of the interview with Badr Abdelatty, foreign minister of Egypt, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Oct. 12, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to the Foreign Minister of Egypt, Dr. Badr Abdelatty, and he joins us this morning from Cairo. Welcome to Face The Nation.
EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER BADR ABDELATTY: Good to be with you, Margaret. Thank you so much for hosting me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So President Trump is headed to Egypt. I know he will be meeting with President al-Sisi tomorrow in Sharm El-Sheik to discuss this agreement about Gaza. But everything seems dependent on this hostage release and the conclusion of phase one, from what you know and hear from Hamas, will those hostages be released in the next 24 hours?
BADR ABDELATTY: Well, we are confident that the first phase of the Trump peace plan will be implemented, will be honored by all parts concerns, and we are moving ahead. We are very hopeful that the first phase will be completed, in all honesty from the two parties, and we are in full contact with the Palestinians, with the Hamas, because it’s all about, of course, releasing the hostages, and for Israel, releasing some of the Palestinian detainees, returning back some- I mean, the bodies of the those who passed away, but that will take time to collect the remains, of course, and to allow the flow of all humanitarian assistance to Gaza without impediments, In order to deal with current famine and starvation in Gaza.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So the vice president, who you just heard, said that President Trump has convinced a number of countries to provide ground troops to go into Gaza. Will Egypt be sending ground troops into Gaza?
BADR ABDELATTY: Well, part of the deal is, of course, the issue of security arrangement, and we are working on different levels. First of all, there are some Palestinians in Gaza. They will be trained and be deployed in Gaza. We are in the process now, as we speak, providing training and coordination with Jordan to train up to 5000 Palestinians to be deployed in Gaza as well. Deployment of international force is on the table. We are supporting this idea, of course, and there are some countries, expressed their readiness to deploy forces to contribute with the forces on the ground. And we have to work now on going to the security council, of course, to endorse the proposal, as well as defining the main mandate of this troops on the ground.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the leader of Indonesia is already committed to 20,000 troops. Is Egypt going to commit troops? Do you have a number?
BADR ABDELATTY: We are, we are going to support and to commit troops within specific parameters. As I mentioned, we must have a mandate by the security council to endorse it, and of course, to you know, specify the mission of the of the troops on the ground, which will be peace keeping, and how to provide training to the Palestinian policeman in order to do the job, to- to have law enforcement on the ground. And, of course, to define the whole mission, and for how long, because it will be a transitional one, in order to help to the Palestinians to assume their four responsibilities, and to tell we have the realization of the Palestinian state on the ground.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You are committing there to a Palestinian state. The President of the United States has given a more vague language, and when I pressed the Secretary of State on this point just last weekend, he said, This is far off in the future. How long do you think it’s going to take before Palestinians are ruling Gaza and that we will see a state?
BADR ABDELATTY: Well, what’s very urgent now is, of course, ending this war on the innocent civilians in Gaza, provide as much as food and medicine to the people there. And then we have to move forward with regard to the early recovery and reconstructions of Gaza. And of course, talking about issues related to the governance and the security arrangement in Gaza. And of course, from our point of view, the end game, the final, comprehensive solution will be the realization of the Palestinian state. Because without that, we are confident through we have to draw lessons from the past, that without solving the Palestinian cause, which is the core of the conflict in the region, without respecting the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians to have their own statehood, you know, there is no peace and stability in the region. And the Trump peace plan, it refers to the statehood. And of course, 144 countries voted in favor of the two-state solution in New York recently. So this is a game on town.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, again, that’s going to seemingly take a lot of time. I want to go back to the question of security, because it is essential for rebuilding, and share with you some of what the United Nations estimates here. The UN says 92% of housing units in Gaza are destroyed or damaged. Almost 92% of schools will require full reconstruction or rehab. 77% of the total road network has been damaged. 86% of total cropland is destroyed. How much is this going to cost, and where is this money coming from?
BADR ABDELATTY: Well, first of all, we have full confidence on the leadership of President Trump and his vision for peace. He’s the only person who is capable to end the war and to open a new chapter in the Middle East, a chapter of hope, of prosperity and peace for all peoples, including, of course, the Israeli people, the Palestinians, and all peoples in our region. So we are very appreciative, we are commanding his leadership, and we are in full support of his vision and his leadership. This is one. Number two, we are working very hard now with regard to convening an international conference in cooperation between Egypt and the United States, as well as with a lot of partners, including Germany, European Union, France, Italy, Spain, Qatar, Gulf Cooperation Council, Japan, everybody is standing ready to participate in this conference for The reconstruction and redevelopment of Gaza, it will be a merge between the Arab and Islamic plan for the reconstruction and the Trump peace plan. So I met today with the Deputy Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations, Tom Fletcher, and we are working very hard now for having a final assessment report. On the–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we’ll look for that number to be released in the future, Mr. Foreign Minister, I have to leave it there for now. Good luck with the conference. We’ll be right back.
