US President Donald Trump called it “potentially one of the great days ever in civilization” as he laid out his administration’s 20-point proposal for a comprehensive end to the war in Gaza. In statements alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Trump said, “We are beyond very close.”
It’s the sort of hyperbolic language that we’ve come to expect from the US president, but is it grounded in realistic expectations?
The plan calls for Israel to release 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences, as well as 1,700 Palestinians detained since the start of the war, in exchange for Hamas freeing 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas members can be granted amnesty after that if they “commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons.”
Israel will gradually withdraw from Gaza as a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF), led by Arab partners, takes over security in the battered territory, according to the plan. Meanwhile, a Palestinian committee, overseen by an international body dubbed the “Board of Peace,” will run Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority is ready to take over. The proposal recognizes the aspiration for a Palestinian state and tries to present a “credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”
Netanyahu said he supports the plan, but Israel has not yet officially accepted,
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