By WILL WEISSERT, SAM MEDNICK and SAMY MAGDY, Related Press
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to fulfill with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, as Washington appears to create contemporary momentum for a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that might be in peril of stalling out earlier than a sophisticated second part.
Trump may use the face-to-face at his Mar-a-Lago property to attempt to leverage his sturdy relationship with Netanyahu and search for methods to hurry up the peace course of, particularly as Israel’s chief has been accused of not pushing his facet to maneuver quick sufficient.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Trump has championed has largely held, however progress has slowed not too long ago. Each side accuse each other of violations, and divisions have emerged among the many U.S., Israel and Arab international locations concerning the path ahead.
The truce’s first part started in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the preliminary Hamas-led assault on Israel that killed round 1,200 individuals. All however one of many 251 hostages taken then have been launched, alive or useless.
Now comes the following, way more sophisticated half. Trump’s 20-point plan — which was accredited by the U.N. Safety Council — lays out an formidable imaginative and prescient for ending Hamas’ rule of Gaza.
The 2 leaders additionally may talk about non-Gaza matters, together with Iran, whose nuclear capabilities Trump continues to insist had been “completely and fully obliterated” following U.S. strikes on its nuclear websites in June.
There are lots of key aspects of the ceasefire’s second part that Israel’s chief doesn’t help or has even brazenly opposed, stated Mona Yacoubian, director and senior adviser of the Center East Program on the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research.
“This is going to be a really tall order, I think, for President Trump to get Netanyahu to agree,” she stated.
“How he does that, what kind of pressure he puts on Netanyahu, I think, is going to be important to watch for,” stated Yacoubian, who additionally stated the 2 may exhibit ”a broader conflict of approaches to the area.”
Subsequent part is complicated
If profitable, the second part would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza below worldwide supervision by a bunch chaired by Trump and often called the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would kind a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run every day affairs in Gaza, below Board of Peace supervision.
It additional requires normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world, and a attainable pathway to Palestinian independence. Then there are thorny logistical and humanitarian questions, together with rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza, disarming Hamas and making a safety equipment referred to as the Worldwide Stabilization Pressure.
The Board of Peace would oversee Gaza’s reconstruction below a two-year, renewable U.N. mandate. Its members had been anticipated to be named by the tip of the yr and would possibly even be revealed following Monday’s assembly, however the announcement might be pushed into subsequent month.
Netanyahu was the primary overseas chief to fulfill Trump on the White Home in his second time period, however this will probably be their first in-person assembly since Trump went to Israel in October to mark the beginning of the ceasefire’s preliminary part. Netanyahu has been to Mar-a-Lago earlier than, together with in July 2024 when Trump was nonetheless searching for reelection.
A lot stays unsettled
Their newest assembly comes after U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son in regulation, Jared Kushner, not too long ago huddled in Florida with officers from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have been mediating the ceasefire.
Two major challenges have sophisticated transferring to the second part, in response to an official who was briefed on these conferences. Israeli officers have been taking a number of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from a listing given to them by the mediators, and Israel continues its army strikes.
Trump’s plan additionally requires the Worldwide Stabilization Pressure, proposed as a multinational physique, to take care of safety. Nevertheless it, too, has but to be shaped. Whether or not particulars will probably be forthcoming after Monday’s assembly is unclear.
President Donald Trump speaks throughout a NORAD, North American Aerospace Protection Command, Tracks Santa Operation name at his Mar-a-Lago membership, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Palm Seaside, Fla. (AP Photograph/Alex Brandon)
A Western diplomat stated there’s a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the Worldwide Stabilization Pressure’s mandate and that of different main international locations within the area, in addition to European governments.
All spoke on the situation of anonymity to offer particulars that haven’t been made public.
The U.S. and Israel need the power to have a “commanding role” in safety duties, together with disarming Hamas and different militant teams. However international locations being courted to contribute troops worry that mandate will make it an “occupation force,” the diplomat stated.
Hamas has stated it is able to talk about “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons, however insists it has a proper to armed resistance so long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory. One U.S. official stated a possible plan is perhaps to supply money incentives in change for weapons, echoing a “buy-back” program Witkoff has beforehand floated.
Questions on Gaza reconstruction
Israeli bombardment and floor operations have reworked neighborhoods in a number of Gaza cities into rubble-strewn wastelands, with blackened shells of buildings and lumps of particles stretching in all instructions.
Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are urgent for a negotiated deal on disarming Hamas, and on a further Israeli withdrawal from Gaza earlier than transferring to subsequent parts of the plan. These embrace deployment of the worldwide safety power and reconstruction, three Arab officers instructed The Related Press.
That seems to run in opposition to concepts floated by U.S. officers to rapidly begin constructing short-term housing for Palestinians in components of southern Gaza nonetheless managed by Israeli troops. Three officers stated the United Arab Emirates has agreed to fund reconstruction in Gaza, together with new communities, though they stated discussions are ongoing and plans stay unsettled.
A proposed map created by the U.S. and obtained by the AP exhibits an space labelled “UAE Temporary Emirates housing complex” inside an Israeli-controlled space of Gaza. The map exhibits a “U.S. planned community area” surrounding the UAE space.
An Arab official stated he was conscious of the map, however stated it was a suggestion from the U.S. and Israel that was put to the Emiratis and different international locations.
The UAE didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark about whether or not it has agreed to the plans or to fund the communities. It isn’t recognized if the cash can be contingent on gestures from Israel and Hamas, similar to a dedication to Palestinian statehood or disarmament.
Related Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Lee Keath in Cairo contributed to this report.
