US President Donald Trump will push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to an elusive Gaza peace plan on Monday in high-stakes talks at the White House.
Trump has presented a 21-point plan to both sides to end the nearly two-year war, free hostages held by Hamas and disarm the Palestinian militants.
The US leader said Sunday on social media that “ALL ARE ON BOARD FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL, FIRST TIME EVER,” and held talks with key Arab leaders at the United Nations last week.
But Netanyahu has given little reason for optimism, vowing in a defiant UN speech Friday to “finish the job” against Hamas and rejecting Palestinian statehood — recently recognized by several Western nations.
The White House announced that the pair are scheduled to hold a joint news conference at 1:15 pm (1715 GMT), in an apparent indication that Trump is hoping to announce a deal.
“He wants this war to come to an end, he wants to see all the hostages released,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff had sent a “very detailed 21-point plan to both sides and the president expects both sides to agree,” she said.
– ‘Stand firm’ –
Trump’s plan, according to The Times of Israel and US news site Axios, calls for an immediate ceasefire, a phased Israeli withdrawal and the release of hostages within 48 hours.
Israel would then free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including several serving life terms.
Normally a staunch ally of Netanyahu, the US president has shown increasing signs of frustration ahead of the Israeli premier’s fourth White House visit since Trump’s return to power.
He warned Netanyahu last week against annexing the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as some of Netanyahu’s cabinet members have urged, and also opposed Israel’s recent strike on Hamas members in key US ally Qatar.
Israeli strikes continued across the Gaza Strip, killing at least four people in Khan Yunis, according to the Hamas-run territory’s civil defense agency.
Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza urged Trump to uphold his Gaza proposal.
“We respectfully ask you to stand firm against any attempts to sabotage the deal you have brought forth,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in an open letter to Trump.
The outcome may hinge on how far Trump pushes Netanyahu, said Natan Sachs, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.
“Netanyahu has a clear preference for continuing the war and defeating Hamas, but I don’t think it’s impossible for Trump to convince him otherwise,” Sachs told AFP.
– Voices from Gaza –
Trump has sounded increasingly optimistic about his plan in recent days.
Under the US proposals, former British prime minister Tony Blair was floated in some media reports as a possible leader of a transitional authority for Gaza.
But Netanyahu, during his UN speech, dismissed the idea of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority having a role in governing Gaza, which it did until Hamas seized power in 2007.
“The likelihood of… a reformed Palestinian Authority that changes completely its stripes, that accepts a Jewish state, that teaches its children to embrace the coexistence and friendship with the Jewish state, rather than living their lives in order to annihilate it… well, good luck,” he told Fox News.
In Gaza, people expressed a mix of hope, exhaustion and distrust ahead of the White House meeting.
“I don’t expect anything from Trump, because Trump supports Netanyahu in destroying the Gaza Strip and displacing people to carry out the Riviera project,” said Mohammed Abu Rabee, 34, referring to Trump’s earlier proposal to turn the Palestinian territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Others voiced cautious optimism.
“We hope Trump’s plan succeeds. We want the war and the killing to stop,” said Hossam Abd Rab.
“The army has destroyed everything in Gaza; Gaza is unliveable,” the 55-year-old added.
The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally from Israeli official figures.
Israel’s offensive has killed 66,055 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
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© Agence France-Presse
