Gaza ceasefire deal: Netanyahu agrees to Trump plan for enclave, but Hamas still a question

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to a US-backed deal to end the nearly two years of war in Gaza amid a fresh push by President Donald Trump, but obstacles to peace remained amid questions about whether Hamas would also sign on.

Israeli sign-off was a significant moment in the twisting conflict, which has been marked by deals and diplomatic initiatives that have quickly fallen apart. The initiative agreed to Monday, local time, was notable because it appeared to have high-level Israeli buy-in along with assent from neighbouring Arab nations.

But it remained unclear whether Hamas would agree to a deal that would lead to its disarmament and potential exile from Gaza. Nor was it clear that Mr Netanyahu could square his sharp opposition to Palestinian statehood with a plan that on paper could go down that road.

Mr Trump, speaking after more than two hours of meetings at the White House, betrayed little of that caution, declaring with no evidence that the deal was likely to result not just in peace in Gaza but a comprehensive restructuring of “thousands” of years of Middle Eastern relations.

Mr Trump called it “a beautiful day, potentially one of the great days ever in civilization,” speaking alongside Mr Netanyahu at the White House. The deal, which the White House published Monday, foresees hostilities ceasing immediately and hostages being released within 72 hours of both sides agreeing to the deal.

“Today is a historic day for peace,” the President said, even as he acknowledged that Hamas had not yet agreed to the deal. “Let’s call it eternal peace in the Middle East.”

“I’m hearing that Hamas wants to get this done, too, and that’s a good thing,” Mr Trump said, adding that if Hamas doesn’t agree, the White House would give Israel “full backing to do what you have to do.”

Mr Netanyahu, speaking after Mr Trump, praised the US President’s efforts with flowery language.

“We’re taking a critical step towards both ending the war in Gaza and setting the stage for dramatically advancing peace in the Middle East,” the Israeli leader said. “I support your plan to end the war in Gaza, which achieves our war aims.”

A Hamas official said that the organization would review the proposal.

“We do not wish for the war to continue,” senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told Alaraby TV. “We will examine any proposal that does not conflict with the interests of the Palestinians.”

But Mr Netanyahu hedged with details that could make it difficult for Arab nations to sign on, pledging to maintain an Israeli security presence inside Gaza for the foreseeable future.

The 20-point agreement released by the White House on Monday would pull Israeli forces back from Gaza in phases. Hamas members who “commit to peaceful coexistence” with Israel and hand over or destroy their weapons would be given amnesty, and members who choose to leave would be granted safe passage to other countries. There would be a broader effort to demilitarize Gaza.

Many of the points in the agreement lack details, potentially giving Israel opportunities to slow or halt the process of handing Gaza back to full Palestinian control.

The agreement differed from a plan that the White House circulated last week by giving Israeli security forces a larger role in training a local administrative force and in maintaining control of Gaza’s extensive border areas. And it envisions an Israeli pull-out from territory that is linked to demilitarisation that requires ongoing agreement from the Israeli government - another change to the original plan that won backing from Arab nations and that could have the effect of slowing or stopping Israel’s departure from Gaza.

Still, many Arab and Muslim-majority nations praised Mr Trump’s efforts on Monday. The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar and Egypt said in a joint statement that they “welcome President Trump’s announcement of his proposal.”

The Palestinian Authority also backed the plan in a statement.

Even as Mr Netanyahu lavished praise on Mr Trump, he peppered his support for the plan with conditions that appeared to aim at addressing his far-right coalition partners who don’t want him to stop the war.

“Hamas will be disarmed. Gaza will be demilitarized. Israel will retain security responsibility,” he said. “Israel will conduct further withdrawals linked to the extent of disarmament and demilitarization, but will remain in the security perimeter for the foreseeable future.”

But he added that if Hamas didn’t agree to the deal, he would escalate Israel’s effort to eliminate any possible security threat from Gaza.

“This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done,” Mr Netanyahu said.

Mr Netanyahu did not make eye contact with Mr Trump even as he called him a friend. The mood between the two leaders appeared to lighten after Mr Netanyahu played off Mr Trump’s pronunciation of the Abraham Accords.

But back home, Mr Netanyahu will face pressure from his influential right-wing and far-right allies who have long rejected withdrawing from Gaza and have demanded that Israel permanently occupy the Strip.

In recent weeks, his national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, has called for building an Israeli settlement for police officers on the Gaza beach, and his finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to withdraw from the coalition and collapse the government if Israel did not proceed with a full military occupation of the enclave.

Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said other Israeli political parties might be willing join Mr Netanyahu to save his government if the far right were to quit in protest over ending the war.

“Politically, the deal is more likely to come to fruition than any other in the past months, in part because Israel’s political scene has changed as the country gets closer to elections,” Mr Panikoff said.

The Israeli sign-off came after Mr Netanyahu called Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at Mr Trump’s behest to apologize for the airstrike on an apartment building in the Qatari capital of Doha where senior Hamas officials were gathered, the White House said.

The strike, which killed a Qatari security officer, infuriated Qatar, a close ally of Washington that for years has served as a mediator between Israel and Hamas at the request of both Washington and Israel. It also frustrated Mr Trump, who condemned the strike publicly, and he appeared Monday to side with Qatari leaders who had demanded an apology before continuing any further mediation between the warring sides.

In the three-way call that included Trump and the Qatari and Israeli leaders, Netanyahu expressed “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 he affirmed that Israel will not conduct such attacks again in the future.

Mr Trump, who came into office vowing to end the fighting, has renewed efforts in recent weeks to reach a peace deal. Until now, his attempts have failed to gain momentum and offered little relief for suffering Palestinians, with the US leader growing increasingly frustrated by Mr Netanyahu’s handling of the war.

The President met last week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly with leaders of Arab and Muslim-majority nations to shop the deal, and Mr Netanyahu and White House officials spent the weekend discussing the details of the plan.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who clashed with Mr Trump over Mr Macron’s recognition of Palestinian statehood last week, said he supported the peace effort.

“I welcome President @realDonaldTrump’s commitment to ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of all hostages,” Mr Macron posted on X. “I expect Israel to engage resolutely on this basis. Hamas has no choice but to immediately release all hostages and follow this plan.”

Mr Netanyahu spent parts of Sunday in meetings with US officials, including Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, hashing out terms of the plan.

Mr Trump’s plan - which was crafted with heavy input from former British prime minister Tony Blair - would hold the door open to an eventual Palestinian state. It would begin with the immediate cessation of military operations, would freeze “battle lines” in place and would require Hamas to release all 20 living hostages - and the remains of more than two dozen believed dead - within 72 hours.

All of Hamas’s offensive weaponry would be destroyed, according to a 20-point version of the plan released by the White House on Monday.

For now, Gaza would be run by a transitional, technocratic Palestinian committee that is responsible for administering day-to-day public services for its residents. The committee would be overseen by a “Board of Peace” run by Mr Trump, and it would include Blair, “with other members and heads of State to be announced.”

That governance would remain in place until the Palestinian Authority has completed reform efforts and takes back control of Gaza - a potential pathway to reunited Palestinian control of the West Bank and Gaza that could eventually lead to Palestinian statehood.

The plan was initially 21 points, but one of the demands was the Israeli apology to Qatar that was accomplished on Monday.

The plan “could finally be a meaningful step forward to ending the war, getting the hostages home and ending the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” said Ilan Goldenberg, who worked on Gaza peace plans as a senior White House adviser in the Biden administration. “However, it is critical that President Trump hold all of the parties’ feet to the fire and not get drawn into a multi-month negotiating process, which will only serve to prolong the conflict and result in even more death and destruction.”

Mr Netanyahu has expressed opposition to a Palestinian state, but maintaining conditions for one is a key demand both for Palestinians and Israel’s Arab neighbors.

“Everybody is just waiting to see what is going on, what Netanyahu is going to approve and what he is going to say no to, so we can give a complete idea of the vision of Egypt toward this American proposal,” said a former Egyptian official with knowledge of the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

Arab leaders felt that until recently, there was “no sense of urgency from Trump” about ending the war, the former official said. The person said regional leaders believe that a European push to recognize a Palestinian state changed that dynamic.

But some prominent Arab voices said it was possible Mr Trump could achieve peace through ongoing pressure on Mr Netanyahu.

“President Trump should not take no for an answer” from Mr Netanyahu, said former Egyptian foreign minister Amr Moussa. The best outcome, he said, would be that “Trump leads a movement towards peace.” He said Egypt’s red lines are that there be no eviction of Palestinians from Gaza, along with the acceptance of a Palestinian state.

© 2025 , The Washington Post.