Trump, Netanyahu outline Gaza peace proposal: 5 takeaways

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined a peace proposal for Gaza on Monday in a joint news conference at the White House.

The move came as the two-year anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, nears. About 1,200 Israelis were killed in those attacks, roughly two-thirds of whom were civilians.

Since then, Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 66,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, about half of whom were women and children.

Israel’s actions have drawn widespread international condemnation, but Netanyahu and his government have been buttressed by the support of their most important ally, the United States.

Here are five big takeaways from Monday’s events at the White House.

Finally, there is an actual plan

Rumors of a White House plan to end the conflict in Gaza had been rife. It finally emerged into public view just moments before Trump and Netanyahu came to their lecterns in the State Dining Room.

If Hamas were to accept the plan, Israeli forces would initially make a modest withdrawal from their current positions and cease further attacks. Hamas would then release all the remaining hostages, living and dead, within 72 hours. Once that happened, Israel would release 250 prisoners serving life sentences as well as 1,700 Palestinians who have been detained without charge, though the timing here is vague.

Aid would be permitted to enter Gaza in much greater amounts as soon as the deal was accepted, easing a humanitarian catastrophe where many people are suffering from malnutrition or outright starvation. 

Responsibility for the day-to-day running of Gaza would shift to a committee made up of what the White House calls “qualified Palestinians and international experts.” This, in turn, would come under the supervision of a Trump-led “Board of Peace,” which would also include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The White House proposal states that “no one will be forced to leave Gaza” and that “Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza.” 

It also requires Hamas and “other factions” to agree to have no role, directly or indirectly, in governing Gaza, and to ultimately disarm. It further provides for the creation of an “International Stabilization Force” to provide internal security. 

Enormous questions remain

The press conference between Trump and Netanyahu had the air of two men unveiling a peace deal. But there is no such deal, merely a proposal. 

Hamas is said to be considering the framework, according to reporting from The Associated Press, but that’s a long way from an agreement.

There are other enormous questions. One is whether Hamas has any interest at all in declaring itself off-limits for holding power in Gaza and committing to its own demilitarization. The second part of that bargain, in particular, would be seen as a humiliating surrender.

There is also the issue of how Palestinians would ever again assume meaningful self-determination in Gaza if they agreed to this plan. 

Trump and Netanyahu say that even the more moderate Palestinian Authority (PA) would have to make far-reaching reforms to be deemed acceptable for taking back power from the transitional authority. Who would determine if the PA’s efforts had been sufficient? 

The Palestinian people, even amid the current horror, will surely be reluctant to cede control over who rules them to Netanyahu, Trump, or even Blair, whose premiership is closely identified with his support for the Iraq War.

There are many more uncertainties over the details here — including whether the Trump administration still supports a two-state solution as the ultimate remedy for the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

None of those matters were clarified at the news conference, where the two leaders declined to take any questions from reporters.

Netanyahu looks to sell deal to his own side

Netanyahu’s many detractors will be enormously skeptical about his supposed commitment to peace. But he did at times seem willing to sell a deal to his own side on Monday.

Netanyahu’s coalition government leans on support from even more hard-line figures, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — whose history includes being convicted by Israeli courts of supporting far-right terrorism — and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

During Netanyahu’s remarks, he framed his support for the deal as being rooted in the belief that it “achieves our war aims.”

In fact, Netanyahu has long been slippery on the question of what precisely those aims are. On Monday, he defined them as getting the hostages home, dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities, ending its political rule and ensuring that Gaza itself “never again poses a threat to Israel.”

The Israeli prime minister got an assist from Trump, who told him that, if the plan led to peace, it would be seen as Netanyahu’s “crowning achievement.”

Israel is negotiating from a position of deepening isolation

Netanyahu loves to evince strength, but the assault on Gaza has left Israel increasingly isolated.

Large nations including Britain, France, Canada and Australia have recently joined most of the rest of the world in recognizing Palestinian statehood. 

Netanyahu’s Friday speech at the United Nations was delivered to a mostly empty hall as delegates walked out. 

The Israeli prime minister faces an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes from the International Criminal Court.

Even in the United States, pro-Israel activist groups have watched with consternation as young Americans, in particular, have shifted their sympathies toward the Palestinians.

For all Israel’s military might, it could be that even Netanyahu is feeling the sting of international condemnation.

An apology for Qatar

One of the more concrete developments on Monday came as a tangent to the main peace proposal

Netanyahu apologized to the prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, for Israel’s recent strike on the Gulf nation.

Earlier this month, Israel launched missile strikes on the Qatari capital, Doha, apparently targeting Hamas figures.

The move outraged the Qataris and irked Trump, given that Qatar is a key U.S. ally.

According to the White House readout of the call, Netanyahu expressed regret “and affirmed that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in the future.”