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LONDON: Dozens of top officials from Middle East and European nations huddled Monday with leading global financial institutions for talks in the UK on rebuilding the devastated Gaza Strip.
Far from a high-profile Gaza summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the UK’s foreign ministry quietly brought together Middle East and European officials at an isolated mansion deep in the southern English countryside.
The aim of the three-day conference was to start the “crucial planning and coordination efforts for postwar Gaza” which would be Palestinian-led, the UK prime minister’s office said in a statement.
“We must be ready to act — to clear rubble, rebuild homes and set up infrastructure, restoring access to education and health care,” junior foreign minister Hamish Falconer added in a statement.
“We know the scale of the task. We know how urgent it is, and how complex it will be,” he added, highlighting it “will take years and cost billions.”
The Israeli assault on Gaza — triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel — has left much of the Palestinian territory in ruins and most of its population displaced.
The UK government said the talks in Wilton Park, West Sussex, which is managed by the Foreign Office, brought together “representatives from businesses, civil society and governments, to convene crucial planning and coordination efforts for postwar Gaza.”
The Palestinian Authority was represented along with officials from countries such as Jordan, ��������, Germany and Italy, the UK prime minister’s office said.
Officials from the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development were also attending to support what Falconer called an Arab Reconstruction Plan.
“We must also lay the groundwork for long-term economic development,” Falconer said, insisting that “Gaza and Palestine more broadly, has real economic potential.”
The talks aimed to examine how to “unlock the vast resources needed, not just through traditional donor finance, but by thinking creatively to bring in private capital,” he said.
The UK was well-placed to help, with “deep expertise in private investment and strong links to the City of London,” he added.

LONDON: Police in the UK have apologized to a protester wrongly threatened with arrest under terrorism legislation.

Laura Murton, 43, had held signs saying “free Gaza” and “Israel is committing genocide” on July 14 in the English city of Canterbury. 

She was accosted by armed officers who claimed she was supporting banned group Palestine Action, and who threatened to arrest her unless she provided her name and personal address.

Murton filmed the incident as it happened, during which an officer told her: “Mentioning freedom of Gaza, Israel, genocide, all of that all come under proscribed groups, which are terror groups that have been dictated by the government.”

The officer added that stating “free Gaza” was “supportive of Palestine Action” and that “to express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization, namely Palestine Action, is an offence under section 12(1A) of the Terrorism Act.”

Palestine Action was proscribed earlier this year after a series of incidents, including a break-in at a Royal Air Force base.

Subsequent protests across the UK have featured demonstrators holding signs explicitly stating their support for the group, which is a criminal offense.

Kent Police apologized to Murton, including for “unlawful false imprisonment” and processing of her personal data, and agreed to delete the data and pay her damages and legal costs.

Chief Constable Tim Smith admitted in a letter to Murton that his officers had breached her rights to free speech as well as national counterterrorism policing guidelines.

“The chief constable apologises for any distress you may have suffered as a result of this incident and confirms that any materially similar protest to that which you undertook on 14 July 2025 would not give rise to any grounds to suspect an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000,” the letter said.

Murton said she would donate any damages received to pro-Palestine causes. “People should continue to exercise their lawful right to protest in support of Palestinian people despite the proscription of Palestine Action,” she added.

“I hope this case serves as a reminder to chief constables across the country that there should be no unlawful interference with those protest rights.”

Her lawyer Shamik Dutta said: “This is the first time a chief constable has been compelled to pay damages and offer an apology arising from the unlawful policing of the proscription of Palestine Action.

“Regrettably, Ms Murton’s experience is not unique and given the national failure of police forces to respect rights to free speech in this context, her case is unlikely to be the last.”