Trump Pushes Gaza ‘Peace’ Plan As Israel War Grinds On

Speaking at the White House alongside Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said his proposal had been welcomed across the region, though Hamas had not accepted it.

“It’s a great plan, everybody loves it,” Trump told reporters. “Everyone else has accepted it, but I feel Hamas will too. If not, Bibi, you’d have our full backing.”

The plan envisions a transitional body—dubbed the “board of peace”—chaired by Trump himself and joined by figures such as former British prime minister Tony Blair. It would govern Gaza, recruit a new Palestinian administration, and coordinate with international lenders. Hamas, Trump said, would be excluded entirely.

Under the proposal, hostilities would stop immediately once both parties agreed, Israeli troops would pull back in phases, and all military operations would freeze. Within 72 hours of Israeli approval, all captives must be returned—alive or dead—in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Israel would release 250 life-sentence inmates and 1,700 Gazans detained since October 7, 2023. For each Israeli body repatriated, 15 Palestinians’ remains would be handed over.

The White House claimed the plan aims to turn Gaza into “a deradicalized, terror-free zone” and pledged that aid would flow in “without interference” through the UN and the Red Crescent. Funding would include rebuilding hospitals, bakeries, and infrastructure shattered by the campaign.

Israel’s over two-year genocidal war on Gaza—waged with constant US military and diplomatic cover—has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The enclave has been devastated, with mass displacement, famine, and disease spreading under blockade and bombardment.

Trump admitted Netanyahu “was very clear about his opposition to a Palestinian state,” dismissing recent recognitions by European governments as acts of fatigue rather than justice.

Reaction from the region was swift and scathing.

Mohammed al-Farah, a senior member of Yemen’s Ansarallah movement, called Trump’s proposal “unjust and unenforceable.”

He said the plan was designed “to isolate Hamas, shift blame onto the resistance, and contain worldwide outrage against the occupation regime.”

Al-Farah added that no Palestinian side had been consulted. “Trump invents, approves, and enforces his own scheme, declaring himself head of a so-called peace council with no mechanism for implementation. It is absurd.”

He argued the initiative serves to shield Israel from accountability while presenting Washington as peacemaker.

“The reality is that this so-called peace project seeks to bury Palestinian rights, silence global solidarity, and whitewash a war that has already destroyed Gaza,” he said.