U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on Friday, Sept. 26 that he was close to forging a deal to end the war in Gaza and bring hostages home as he prepared to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sept. 29, reported Reuters. “It’s looking like we have a deal on Gaza. I think it’s a deal that gets the hostages back, it’s going to be a deal that ends the war,” Trump told reporters on Friday. He offered no details and gave no timetable.
Hours later, the Times of Israel published, in paraphrase, what it claimed were the 21 points of the plan, which it attributed to Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, the first point of which is “Gaza will be a de-radicalized, terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.” Point 3 reads: “If Israel and Hamas agree to the proposal, the war will immediately end, with the IDF halting all operations and gradually withdrawing from the [Gaza] Strip.”
Point 9 provides for “a temporary, transitional government of Palestinian technocrats” which will be responsible for providing day-to-day services to the population of Gaza. The transitional government “will establish a framework for funding the redevelopment of Gaza until the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform program.” Times of Israel comments that this part of the plan “appears to borrow heavily from former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s plan for ending the war….” The daily further notes that “Blair and former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner have been working on the Gaza file for months, while advising Witkoff.”
