BEIRUT — President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday put forth a 20-point plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip, a sweeping proposal that calls on Hamas to not only lay down its arms, but to give up any role in governing the enclave.
Key elements of the plan, which the leaders announced at the White House in Washington, include the release of hostages, a prisoner swap involving hundreds and amnesty for Hamas fighters. Trump would play a role, heading a commission created to govern Gaza.
Trump said he was “very, very close” to a deal to end the war, though it had yet to receive any reaction from Hamas. The plan calls for the Israeli military to cease fighting once the pact is approved, but does not specify a final pullout of forces from Gaza.
“And I think we’re beyond very close,” added Trump of his most concerted push yet to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, even as the Israeli military presses with its offensive into Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban center.
In a 30-minute speech to reporters following his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump appeared enthusiastic about his proposal, touting it as an unprecedented step toward peace not only in Gaza but across the Middle East. “This is potentially one of the greatest days ever in civilization,” he said.
Trump said that he was “hearing that Hamas wants to get this done too.” But, he added, if Hamas didn’t agree to the plan, Israel would have the “right” and “full backing” of the U.S. to “finish the job” — in other words, eliminate Hamas.
Under Trump’s plan, which the White House published on Monday, hostilities would immediately end, with battle lines frozen before a partial Israeli withdrawal in preparation for the hostages’ release.
Hamas would return all hostages — alive or deceased — within 72 hours of Israel accepting the deal, after which Israel would release 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Gaza residents detained after Oct. 7, 2023, and a number of the deceased.
Aid, which Israel has blocked for months, would be allowed in. Hamas would surrender, and the U.S. and partner Arab nations would create an “International Stabilization Force,” which, once ready, would then take over areas in Gaza from which the Israeli military withdraws.
A “temporary transitional government” will manage the day-to-day running of the Gaza Strip, overseen by a “Board of Peace” chaired and led by Trump. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will also play a role. This body will remain in place until the Palestinian Authority completes a reform program and then can take control of the Gaza Strip.
And in a nod to Trump’s long-stated interest in developing Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East,” the enclave will be subject to a “Trump economic development plan” that would “rebuild and energize” Gaza, and will include a special economic zone.
No one would be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave would be free to do so and could return. Hamas members who “commit to peaceful coexistence” receive amnesty, and those who wish to leave Gaza will get safe passage.
Netanyahu, who repeatedly demonstrated his admiration for Trump and described him as “the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House,” said the proposal achieved “our war aims” and was “a critical step towards both ending the war in Gaza and setting the stage for dramatically advancing peace in the Middle East.”
But Netanyahu also threatened that “Israel will finish the job by itself” if Hamas rejects the plan, or if it accepts it but then backtracks. “This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way. But it will be done,” he said.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt gave their endorsement of Trump’s plan in a joint statement, saying they were ready to “cooperate positively and constructively with the United States and the relevant parties to complete the agreement and ensure its implementation.” The countries added they would work with the U.S. to end the war through a comprehensive agreement that would see the establishment of “a just peace process based on the two-state solution.”
The Palestinian Authority also welcomed the agreement. The Palestinian Authority, which oversees the Israeli-occupied West Bank, governed Gaza until Hamas prevailed in elections in 2006.
Hamas is said to have received the proposal a short while ago, and said to be studying it.
Though the plan as published remains scant on details, it’s unclear how Hamas would be amenable to what amounts to surrender and disarmament while getting none of the terms it has sought throughout more than a year of tortuous negotiations: a cessation of hostilities and a full Israeli withdrawal and disarmament, along with the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
The plan also has little in the way of a viable path to a Palestinian state — a pre-condition set by Saudi Arabia before it joins any normalization agreement with Israel. Instead, the agreement gives a vague notion of recognizing self-determination and statehood as the “aspiration” of the Palestinian people, and that “conditions may finally be in place” for that after once the Palestinian Authority’s reform plan is “faithfully carried out” and Gaza is being redeveloped.
Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted there will be no Palestinian state. A number of nations have recognized a Palestinian state. The United Kingdom, Australia and Canada took such action this month.
Netanyahu earlier Monday formally apologized to Qatar for its recent attack on Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha.
“As a first step, Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his deep regret that Israel’s missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman,” the White House said in a statement. “He further expressed regret that, in targeting Hamas leadership during hostage negotiations, Israel violated Qatari sovereignty and affirmed that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in the future.”
The war in Gaza began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — two-thirds of them civilians, Israeli tallies say — and kidnapping 251 others.
Israel retaliated with a full-on offensive that pulverized wide swaths of the enclave and has so far killed more than 66,000 people, the vast majority of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities and aid groups.
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