Signs of optimism on Gaza peace plan emerge as Netanyahu meets with Witkoff, Kushner

Signs of optimism on Gaza peace plan emerge as Netanyahu meets with Witkoff, Kushner

WASHINGTON — The addition of a press conference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House meeting with US President Donald Trump raises speculation that the Trump administration is planning to announce that it has finalized its agreement for ending the war in Gaza and releasing the remaining Israeli hostages held there.

The US has secured initial backing for the plan from Arab and Muslim partners needed for the postwar management of Gaza.

However, Israel was still deliberating the plan on Sunday, while Hamas said it hadn’t even been presented with it yet.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff held a roughly two-hour meeting with Netanyahu at his hotel on Sunday, where the top Trump aide worked to get Netanyahu on board despite the prime minister’s pushback regarding the proposal’s terms for Hamas’s disarmament and the role of the Palestinian Authority in postwar Gaza, a source familiar with the discussions tells The Times of Israel.

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and former senior adviser, also participated in the meetings.

Hebrew media reported that the Witkoff meeting went well and that Netanyahu is likely to express his support for the plan when the two leaders meet on Monday at the White House.

On Friday, Trump had begun declaring that he thought a deal had been reached.

But without Hamas’s approval, it’s unclear how significant an announcement of a deal would be.

One of the plan’s 21 points states that much of the agreement can move forward even if Hamas doesn’t agree, including the establishment of a new transitional government of Palestinian technocrats and an international stabilization force in areas cleared of Hamas’s presence — which includes the vast majority of the Strip.

But without Hamas releasing the remaining 48 hostages, it’s unlikely that Israel will agree to halt its offensive in Gaza City and beyond.

Moreover, the changes Netanyahu succeeded in making to the US plan could risk the support of the Arab and Muslim nations, which have emphasized the importance of a role for the PA in Gaza and a potential pathway to a future Palestinian state — two red lines for the Israeli premier that he surely sought to remove.

While the leaders of eight Arab and Muslim countries had an opportunity to sway Trump on these issues during their meeting last week on the UN General Assembly sidelines, Netanyahu has the advantage of potentially being the last regional leader to meet with the US president before an announcement is made regarding the plan to end the Gaza war.