Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty left for Washington to meet with top US officials and members of Congress after President Donald Trump floated a plan to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan, AFP reports.

His departure came as Cairo announced it would host an “emergency Arab summit” on February 27 to discuss “the latest serious developments” concerning the Palestinian territories.

According to a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry, Abdelatty’s visit aims “to boost bilateral relations and (the) strategic partnership between Egypt and the US”, and will include “consultations on regional developments”.

In a separate statement, the ministry said Cairo was calling an emergency regional gathering “after extensive consultations by Egypt at the highest levels with Arab countries in recent days, including Palestine, which requested the summit”.