Trump proposal to permanently end war abandons 'Gaza Riviera' plan: Report
Trump proposal to permanently end war abandons 'Gaza Riviera' plan: Report
A new 21-point plan presented by US President Donald Trump to a group of Muslim leaders on Tuesday proposes a permanent end to Israel's war in Gaza, deploying an international force to the strip and no forced displacement of Palestinians, according to a Financial Times (FT) report.
The report releases new details on the Tuesday meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations Genteral Assembly.
The FT reports that Trump's plan calls for the release of all hostages in one go and builds on a previous ceasefire proposal put forward by US envoy Steve Witkoff.
The plan presented would require Israeli forces to retreat to the same positions they held during the two-month ceasefire between January and March this year, followed by a full withdrawal once the "stabilisation force" is deployed.
The plan envisions an "international supervisory body" that oversees a Palestinian committee which would administer Gaza in the interim. The plan stipulates that Hamas will play no role in the governance of post-war Gaza.
The FT's report does not specify who would make up that Palestinian committee, but said that "The Palestinian Authority, the western-backed body that administers limited parts of the occupied West Bank, would have a role but Arab and Muslim states would like it to be expanded".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the idea of having the Palestinian Authority involved in any postwar governance of Gaza. Israel has also consistently affirmed that it has no plans of ending the war in Gaza and is looking to forcibly displace Palestinians from the enclave.
Hamas has accepted several previous ceasefire proposals that were subsequently rejected by Netanyahu.
The plan stipulates that there would be no forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, which Trump's notorious "Gaza Riviera" plan would require. Israeli officials have consistently said they plan to implement the Trump proposal that was widely rejected by Arab leaders, a plan even the US administration has since distanced itself from.
The closed-door meeting on the sidelines of the UN summit on Tuesday was attended by Trump and leaders from Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.
Looming breakthrough
A ceasefire in Gaza has been elusive to the point where many experts and officials have just stopped short of calling the negotiations dead. Just this month, Israel bombed Hamas negotiators in Qatar while they were scheduled to meet to study a ceasefire proposal.
Witkoff on Wednesday, during a talk at Concordia's Annual Summit on the sidelines of the UNGA, confirmed that Trump had presented the leaders with the plan and said he was "confident" that they may even announce a breakthrough in the coming days.
Netanyahu's stated goal of completely destroying Hamas, which US officials have said seems impossible, gives the Israeli prime minister a permanent justification to remain in Gaza.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said during his video call address to the UN meeting on Thursday that he was ready to enter Gaza and implement Trump's new plan, referring to the 21-point plan presented this week.
As of late September 2025, it is believed that 48 hostages remain in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are still alive. All of them would have to be released together for the plan to be implemented.
Witkoff indicated during his talk at the Concordia summit that the plan accommodates all stakeholders, including the Israelis, but the Israelis have yet to comment on it.
Netanyahu will address the UNGA on Friday.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the only leader to publicly comment on the meeting, saying the discussion had been "fruitful".
Annexation
Trump pledged to Muslim leaders that he wouldn't allow Netanyahu to annex the occupied West Bank, according to news outlet Politico.
The report cited six sources familiar with the discussion, saying that "two of those people said Trump was firm on the topic and that the president promised that Israel would not be allowed to absorb the West Bank".
According to Politico, Trump presented a white paper on ending Israel's war on Gaza, which included the annexation pledge alongside a plan for postwar governance and security.
The pledge from Trump may come as a surprise, given that much of the occupied West Bank is already de facto annexed and US officials have either condoned it or turned the other cheek when discussing it.
One US and one western official briefed on recent discussions, who spoke with Middle East Eye for an earlier article, said that Israel could officially annex the Jordan Valley, a wide swath of territory bordering Jordan, in response to the moves by states at the UN to recognise a state of Palestine.
The US official told MEE that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed with Netanyahu specific areas in the occupied West Bank that Israel might officially annex this week, but didn't say what the US attitude was.
"I'd say, anything that was on the table in the 'Deal of the Century' for annexation by Israel is fair game," the western official told MEE. "Whether the US shrugs at that or recognises [Israeli] sovereignty is another matter."
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has also been a passionate advocate for Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank since before he took office in this administration. "I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria," he told Politico in 2017.
"There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It's Judea and Samaria. There's no such thing as a settlement. They're communities, they're neighbourhoods, they're cities. There's no such thing as an occupation," he said at the time.
