U.S. President Donald Trump secured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s backing on Monday for a U.S.-sponsored Gaza peace proposal to end a nearly two-year war in the Palestinian enclave, but questions loomed over whether Hamas would accept the plan.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Netanyahu, Trump said they were “beyond very close” to forging an elusive peace deal but he warned the Islamist group that Israel would have full U.S. support to take whatever action it deemed necessary if the militants reject what he has offered.
The White House released Trump’s 20-point plan that calls for a ceasefire, a swap of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body.
Trump thanked Netanyahu for agreeing to the plan “and for trusting that if we work together, we can bring an end to the death and destruction that we’ve seen for so many years, decades, even centuries, and begin a new chapter of security, peace and prosperity for the entire region.”
At a joint news conference on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they’ve agreed to a 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. Netanyahu warned about what would happen if Hamas didn’t accept the U.S.-sponsored plan, saying: ‘This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done.’
Hamas not part of talks
Standing next to Trump, Netanyahu responded, “I support your plan to end the war in Gaza, which achieves our war aims.”
“It will bring back to Israel all our hostages, dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities, end its political rule, and ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel,” he said.
It was clear, however, that Hamas remained the key to whether Trump’s peace proposals get off the ground, and the group’s absence from negotiations so far raised serious questions about the plan’s viability.
In Netanyahu’s fourth visit since Trump returned to office in January, the right-wing Israeli leader was looking to shore up his country’s most important relationship after a slew of Western leaders formally embraced Palestinian statehood last week in defiance of the U.S. and Israel.
Trump, who had sharply criticized the recognition moves as a prize to Hamas, went into Monday’s meeting seeking Netanyahu’s agreement despite Israel’s misgivings on parts of the plan.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow world leaders at the UN that his country ‘must finish the job’ against Hamas in Gaza and called recognition of the state of Palestine a ‘disgraceful decision.’ He spoke after dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the UN hall en masse.
It marked a stepped-up diplomatic effort by a president who vowed during the 2024 presidential campaign to quickly bring the conflict to a close and has since repeatedly claimed that a deal was near, only for it to fail to materialize.
Without Hamas, that could be the fate of the latest effort, as well. The group still holds 48 hostages, 20 of them still alive, Israel says.
“Hamas hasn’t yet received the plan officially, nothing beyond media publication,” a Hamas official told Reuters.
But an official briefed on the talks later said Qatar and Egypt shared the document with Hamas, which told mediators they would review it “in good faith” and then respond.
Mixed reaction to plan
Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that the Palestinian Authority welcomed Trump’s efforts to end the war, reiterating its commitment to work with the U.S. and partners to reach a comprehensive deal that includes “paving way for just peace on the basis of two-state solution.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron said they also welcomed the efforts to end the war. Both countries, along with Canada and several others, formally recognized the state of Palestine at the United Nations last week, infuriating Netanyahu.
Netanyahu, while praising Trump as a friend of Israel, appeared to put some distance between himself and some of the items in Trump’s peace plan, including the reforms being demanded of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.
It was not immediately clear whether the Trump administration and Israel had resolved all their differences.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad group chief, Ziad al-Nakhala said that he considered the U.S. and Israel’s announcement on Gaza a “recipe to blow up the region.”
The group, which also has taken hostages, is an Iran-backed ally of Hamas.
The White House meeting came as Israeli tanks on Monday thrust deeper into the heart of Gaza City, where Israel has launched one of its biggest offensives of the war this month as Netanyahu says he aims to wipe out Hamas in its final redoubts. The war has left much of Gaza in ruins and caused a major humanitarian crisis.
The White House released U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for an end to the Israel-Hamas war, that calls for a ceasefire, a swap of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body. Trump said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to the plan.
Arriving by limousine, Netanyahu was greeted by Trump outside the White House doors with a handshake, a stark contrast to the chilly reception when he spoke on Friday before the UN General Assembly, where scores of delegates walked out in protest.
Previous U.S.-backed ceasefire efforts have fallen apart due to a failure to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas, and Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is completely dismantled.
Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from the hostages’ families and, according to public opinion polls, a war-weary Israeli public. But he also risks the collapse of his governing coalition if far-right ministers believe he has made too many concessions for a peace deal.
Hamas-led fighters killed around 1,200 people during their attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and captured 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. More than 66,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israel’s assault, according to Gaza health authorities.
