US President Donald Trump has published a 20-point peace proposal for Gaza that would end the war between Israel and Hamas militants and require the return of all hostages living and dead within 72 hours of a ceasefire.
The plan leaves many details for negotiators to hash out and hinges on acceptance by Hamas militants who launched the war against Israel on October 7, 2023. It refers to a redeveloped Gaza as “New Gaza”.
Here are the main elements of the plan that resulted from intense negotiations in recent weeks between Trump and his team, and Israeli and Arab leaders:
– If both sides agree to the proposal, the war will end immediately. Israeli forces will withdraw partially to prepare for a hostage release. All military operations will be suspended and battle lines will be frozen in place until conditions are met for the “complete staged withdrawal” of Israeli forces.
– Within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting the proposal, all hostages, alive and dead, will be returned. Once all hostages are released, Israel will free 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences plus 1700 Gazans arrested after the start of the conflict on October 7, 2023. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 dead Gazans.
– Once all hostages are freed, members of Hamas “who commit to peaceful co-existence” and give up arms will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided with safe passage to receiving countries.
– Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip, with quantities consistent with the levels mandated under a January 19, 2025, accord. Aid deliveries will proceed without interference from Israel or Hamas through the United Nations and related agencies.
– A “deradicalised” Gaza will not pose a threat to its neighbours and will be “redeveloped” for the benefit of Gazans.
– The Trump plan envisions a “Board of Peace” of international overseers led by Trump himself and including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in an undefined role. Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a “technocratic, apolitical” committee made up of Palestinians and international experts, to be overseen by the Board of Peace. This group will set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza until the Palestinian Authority has undergone major reforms.
– A Trump economic development plan to rebuild Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts “who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East.” A special economic zone will be established with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries.
– Under the plan, no one will be forced to leave Gaza, which has sustained heavy damage during the war, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. “We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza,” the plan says.
– Hamas and other factions would agree to have no role whatsoever in governing Gaza, directly or indirectly. All military infrastructure, including tunnels and weapons production facilities, will be destroyed. Independent monitors will supervise the demilitarisation of Gaza.
– “New Gaza will be fully committed to building a prosperous economy and to peaceful coexistence with their neighbours,” according to the plan.
– Regional partners will work to ensure that Hamas and related factions comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat.
– The United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilisation Force to immediately deploy in Gaza.
– Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza. The Israeli Defence Forces will progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies to the International Stabilisation Force.
– The plan is vague on a pathway to Palestinian statehood. It says that while Gaza redevelopment advances and when the Palestinian Authority is reformed, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognise as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.”
– The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a “political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence.”
President Trump has secured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s backing for a US-sponsored Gaza peace proposal to end a nearly two-year-old war in the Palestinian enclave, but questions loomed over whether Hamas would accept the plan.
Speaking on Moday at a joint White House press conference, Trump said they were “beyond very close” to an elusive peace deal but he warned the Islamist group that Israel would have full US support to take whatever action it deemed necessary if the militants reject what he has offered.
While Netanyahu met Trump for pivotal talks, the White House released a 20-point document that calls for a ceasefire, an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body.
“I also want to thank Prime Minister 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,” Trump said.
In Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the White House 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 US and Israel.
Trump, who sharply criticised the recognition moves as a prize for Hamas, was seeking Netanyahu’s agreement despite Israel’s misgivings on parts of the plan.
It marked a stepped-up diplomatic effort from the US president, who vowed during the 2024 presidential campaign to quickly bring the conflict to a close and has since repeatedly claimed that a peace deal was near, only for it to fail to materialise.
Hamas’ apparent absence from the negotiations has raised questions about the prospects for the latest initiative.Without Hamas, that could be the fate of the latest effort as well. The Islamist militant Palestinian group, which triggered the war with its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, 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.
Trump ended what was originally billed as a press conference without taking questions, a rare decision for a president who often speaks to reporters off-the-cuff.
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 recognised Palestinian Authority.
It was not immediately clear whether the Trump administration and Israel had resolved all their differences.
Previous US-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. Washington presented its peace plan to Arab and Muslim states on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last week, and Trump’s main objective on Monday was to close the remaining gaps with Netanyahu.
Israel has launched one of its biggest offensives of the war earlier in September, with Netanyahu saying 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 question of eventual Palestinian statehood, which Netanyahu has vowed never to let happen, was among the main sticking points to Netanyahu’s acceptance of Trump’s initiative, according to a source close to the talks.
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