President Trump offered up a 20-point plan Monday that he cast as a roadmap to end the Israel-Hamas war, a proposal that was backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — though it remains unclear how Hamas will respond.
The plan — which was presented as Netanyahu visited the White House — calls for Hamas to return all Israeli hostages within 72 hours, and for Israel’s military to begin withdrawing from parts of the Gaza Strip in phases. It proposes handing over parts of Gaza to a “technocratic” committee and deploying a temporary security force backed by Arab states.
Mr. Trump said in a joint press conference with Netanyahu that his goal is to ensure a “sustainable, long-term peace.”
Israel and Hamas have been at war since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Since then, Israel has waged an intense aerial bombardment and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip. More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not specify how many of the dead were civilians or militants.
Netanyahu said Monday he supports the plan, which “achieves our war aims.” He said if Hamas does not accept the offer, “Israel will finish the job by itself.”
Hamas has not yet responded to the proposal. Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence chief met with negotiators from Hamas, who said they would review the proposal “in good faith” and provide a response, a White House official told CBS News.
Some unanswered questions about the plan still linger, including the exact timing of possible Israeli withdrawals from Gaza and the involvement of different international partners.
Israel and Hamas would stop fighting, trade hostages and prisoners
The plan calls for an immediate end to fighting if both Israel and Hamas agree to the plan, with Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip immediately withdrawing to an “agreed upon line.”
“During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal,” the plan states.
Within 72 hours of Israel accepting the deal, which Netanyahu appeared to do Monday, Hamas is expected to free all remaining hostages. Some 50 hostages are still in Gaza, fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive, according to Israeli authorities.
In exchange, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinians serving life sentences, as well as 1,700 other Gazans who were detained following the start of the current conflict. The plan calls for the remains of 15 deceased Gazans to be returned for every one deceased hostage. The Israeli releases would take place after the hostages are released by Hamas.
The plan calls for Gaza to be demilitarized “under the supervision of independent monitors,” with any weapons factories and tunnels destroyed and weapons decommissioned.
“A guarantee will be provided by regional partners to ensure that Hamas, and the factions, comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat to its neighbors or its people,” one of the 20 points states.
Aid and economic development would enter Gaza
The plan states “full aid will be immediately sent” to Gaza, which has faced severe food shortages and has fallen into famine in some regions, according to the world’s leading authority on food crises.
It calls for aid deliveries that are at least equal to the levels agreed upon during a prior two-month ceasefire that began in January, with supplies flowing through the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza. It also states the plan would involve “rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries.”
It states aid would be distributed by “international institutions not associated in any manner with either party,” including the United Nations and the Red Crescent. The plan does not mention the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial U.S.- and Israeli-backed group that has handled many aid deliveries in the territory in recent months, whose members have been repeatedly accused of firing at Palestinians trying to get aid.
The proposal also floats convening a “panel of experts” that could draw up economic redevelopment plans for the Gaza Strip. It states Gaza would exist in a “special economic zone” with “preferred tariff and access rates.”
Gaza to be led by “technocratic” group and stabilization force, not Hamas
After Israel withdraws from parts of Gaza, the plan calls for the territory to be governed by neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority, which currently oversees much of the West Bank.
Instead, the enclave would be governed by a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza.” It’s not clear who would participate in that committee, but the plan states it would be composed of “qualified Palestinians and international experts.”
Overseeing this new governing structure would be a “Board of Peace” chaired by Mr. Trump.
In a press conference Monday, the president said he’s slated to lead the board “not at my request, believe me. I’m very busy. But we have to make sure this works.”
The plan also envisions an “International Stabilization Force” that would temporarily oversee security in Gaza. This group would be backed by the U.S. and Arab states, and tasked with training “vetted Palestinian Police forces” in collaboration with Jordan and Egypt.
It states Hamas would need to “agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form.” But Hamas members would get amnesty if they “commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons,” and members of the group who want to leave the territory would be able to do so.
The plan would also — at least temporarily — sideline the Palestinian Authority, which has played a key part in security and governance in the occupied Palestinian territories since the 1990s. The authority is dominated by Fatah, a political movement that has long been at odds with Hamas, and it has not governed Gaza since Hamas took over the strip in 2007.
Netanyahu has long criticized the Palestinian Authority. He said Monday the group would have “no role whatsoever in Gaza without undergoing a radical and genuine transformation,” including changes to its education system and an end to a long-controversial stipend system for the families of Palestinian militants.
The West Bank — which Israel has occupied since 1967 — is home to millions of Palestinians and hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers. Since the 1990s, the territory has been split up between areas where the Palestinian Authority has some degree of control and areas fully governed by the Israeli military. The Gaza Strip was also occupied in 1967, though Israel withdrew from the territory and removed its settlements in 2005. The territory has been under a tight Israeli and Egyptian blockade since Hamas’ 2007 takeover.
Israel would withdraw from Gaza and won’t annex territory
The Israel Defense Forces would immediately withdraw from part of Gaza after a deal is reached. It would continue to withdraw from parts of the territory and hand over control to the new International Stabilization Force “based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization.”
Israeli forces would remain present in a “security perimeter,” however, until Gaza “is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat,” the plan states. Netanyahu said Monday the IDF would remain in that perimeter “for the foreseeable future.”
If Hamas doesn’t accept the proposal, it calls for the plan to “proceed in the terror-free areas” that are handed over from the Israeli military to the new stabilization force.
Plan calls statehood an “aspiration of the Palestinian people”
The proposal does not lay out a clear roadmap for an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But it says that, if the plan works out, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.”
Netanyahu has ruled out allowing a Palestinian state to be formed, and has castigated U.S. allies like the United Kingdom and France for recognizing a Palestinian state last week at the United Nations General Assembly, calling it an “absurd prize for terrorism.” Mr. Trump has also opposed calls for a Palestinian state. But key Arab partners have backed Palestinian statehood and cast it as a necessary component of any long-term resolution.
The plan also pushes for an “interfaith dialogue process” to “try and change mindsets and narratives of Palestinians and Israelis,” and a “dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence.”