Palestinian youth stroll alongside a tent camp for displaced individuals because the solar units in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
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Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
PALM BEACH, Fla. — 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 may very well be at risk of stalling out earlier than a sophisticated second section.
Trump might 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 principally held, however progress has slowed lately. Each side accuse each other of violations, and divisions have emerged among the many U.S., Israel and Arab nations in regards to the path ahead.
The truce’s first section 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 subsequent, way more difficult half. Trump’s 20-point plan — which was authorised by the U.N. Safety Council — lays out an bold imaginative and prescient for ending Hamas’ rule of Gaza.
The 2 leaders additionally might talk about non-Gaza matters, together with Iran, whose nuclear capabilities Trump continues to insist have been “completely and fully obliterated” following U.S. strikes on its nuclear websites in June.
There are numerous key aspects of the ceasefire’s second section that Israel’s chief does not assist or has even overtly opposed, mentioned 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 mentioned.
“How he does that, what kind of pressure he puts on Netanyahu, I think, is going to be important to watch for,” mentioned Yacoubian, who additionally mentioned the 2 might exhibit “a broader clash of approaches to the region.”
Subsequent section is advanced
If profitable, the second section would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza underneath worldwide supervision by a bunch chaired by Trump and generally known as the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would type a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run day by day affairs in Gaza, underneath Board of Peace supervision.
It additional requires normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world, and a doable 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 known as the Worldwide Stabilization Pressure.
The Board of Peace would oversee Gaza’s reconstruction underneath 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 may very well 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 can be their first in-person assembly since Trump went to Israel in October to mark the beginning of the ceasefire’s preliminary section. Netanyahu has been to Mar-a-Lago earlier than, together with in July 2024 when Trump was nonetheless looking for reelection.
A lot stays unsettled
Their newest assembly comes after U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son in legislation, Jared Kushner, lately huddled in Florida with officers from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have been mediating the ceasefire.
Two fundamental challenges have difficult transferring to the second section, in response to an official who was briefed on these conferences. Israeli officers have been taking a whole lot of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from an inventory 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 keep up safety. But it surely, too, has but to be shaped. Whether or not particulars can be forthcoming after Monday’s assembly is unclear.
A Western diplomat mentioned there’s a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the Worldwide Stabilization Pressure’s mandate and that of different main nations within the area, in addition to European governments.
All spoke on the situation of anonymity to supply particulars that have not been made public.
The U.S. and Israel need the pressure to have a “commanding role” in safety duties, together with disarming Hamas and different militant teams. However nations being courted to contribute troops concern that mandate will make it an “occupation force,” the diplomat mentioned.
Hamas has mentioned 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 mentioned a possible plan is likely to be to supply money incentives in trade 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 piles 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 embody deployment of the worldwide safety pressure and reconstruction, three Arab officers informed The Related Press.
That seems to run towards concepts floated by U.S. officers to rapidly begin constructing momentary housing for Palestinians in elements of southern Gaza nonetheless managed by Israeli troops. Three officers mentioned the United Arab Emirates has agreed to fund reconstruction in Gaza, together with new communities, though they mentioned discussions are ongoing and plans stay unsettled.
A proposed map created by the U.S. and obtained by the AP reveals an space labelled “UAE Temporary Emirates housing complex” inside an Israeli-controlled space of Gaza. The map reveals a “U.S. planned community area” surrounding the UAE space.
An Arab official mentioned he was conscious of the map, however mentioned it was a suggestion from the U.S. and Israel that was put to the Emiratis and different nations.
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’s not recognized if the cash can be contingent on gestures from Israel and Hamas, equivalent to a dedication to Palestinian statehood or disarmament.
