President Trump Announces His Peace Plan for Gaza

0:00Benjamin Netanyahu:This message comes from Easy Cater, making it easy for organizations to order food for meetings and events from favorite restaurants, set up meal programs for their employees, and manage food spend all in one place at easycater.com.

0:15President Donald Trump:Today on State of the World, President Trump announces his peace plan for Gaza.

0:24President Donald Trump:You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close, where they're happening. It's Monday, September 29th. I'm Greg Dixon. President Trump unveiled a new plan that he said would end the war in Gaza. This was announced at the White House in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he had agreed to the plan, at least for now. The 20-point plan calls for a quick end to the fighting, the return of all Israeli hostages, and a new government in Gaza that does not involve Hamas. Netanyahu made clear that if Hamas doesn't agree to all the terms, Israel was ready to keep fighting.

1:06President Donald Trump:Hamas hasn't responded yet. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben was at the press conference where the plan was announced and gives us more details. She spoke to Elsa Chang.

1:17NPR Reporter:Okay, so let's start with this plan. And what are some of the key features of it?

1:21Benjamin Netanyahu:Well, there's a lot here. There are 20 points. And among those are a plan for governing Gaza. It would be headed by a committee of what the planet calls qualified Palestinians and international experts. And that committee itself would be overseen by what's called a board of peace, which would be chaired by President Trump. And like you said, Hamas would have no role in this. Besides that, all hostages still held by Hamas would be returned. And in turn, Israel would return a number of prisoners and detainees that it has been holding. Beyond that, Gaza would be opened up to aid. And that is important given the dire need for food and medical supplies there.

1:57NPR Reporter:Right. And who exactly would pay for Gaza to recover? I mean, after two years of military strikes there.

2:03Benjamin Netanyahu:Well, there would be what the plan calls a Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza. Now, we don't know more about what that would look like, but this is something Trump has had on his mind before. You'll recall that earlier this year, Trump shared an AI-generated video of a kind of a Gaza that looked a lot like a resort, complete with businesses called Trump Gaza. But again, we don't know what this would look like. But aside from all that, the Israeli military would progressively withdraw from the area, eventually leaving a security buffer zone, it says, around the Gaza region.

2:36Benjamin Netanyahu:And that would remain in place until, again, what the plan says is until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.

2:44NPR Reporter:OK, well, what happens, Danielle, if Hamas does not agree to any of this or some of this?

2:50Benjamin Netanyahu:Well, Trump said he thinks Hamas is on board and his team has been working with Qatar, a key intermediary to make this happen. In fact, today he got Netanyahu to phone the prime minister of Qatar during their meeting to apologize for recent strikes on Hamas leaders who were in Qatar. But again, Trump was blunt today. He said if Hamas does reject this plan, the U.S. will back Israel.

3:14NPR Reporter:If Hamas rejects the deal, which is always possible, they're the only one left. Everyone else has accepted it. But I have a feeling that we're going to have a positive answer. But if not, as you know, maybe you'd have more full backing to do what you would have to do.

3:32Benjamin Netanyahu:And similarly, Netanyahu, he had a slightly different way of putting it, but nevertheless threatening.

3:38NPR Reporter:But if Hamas rejects your plan, Mr. President, or if they supposedly accept it and then basically do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself. This can be done the easy way or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done. The easy way or the hard way. OK, well, Danielle, what are the biggest sticking points right now to this plan actually working?

4:08Benjamin Netanyahu:Well, Palestinian statehood stands out. One of the last points in this plan is a pledge to look for a pathway to a Palestinian state. But there are preconditions here. First of all, that redevelopment, economic redevelopment must be underway. And also that the Palestinian Authority, which is the internationally recognized Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, that that must reform itself. And then after all that, conditions may finally be in place for a pathway to statehood. So it's a lot of conditions and nothing certain. Really, this plan just raises a lot of questions. And notably, the president and prime minister did not take questions from reporters today.

4:47Benjamin Netanyahu:Now, that's partially because President Trump had to meet with congressional leaders about a potential shutdown. But it also means he didn't have to answer tough questions about how all of this would work.

4:57NPR Reporter:That is NPR's Daniel Kurtzleben at the White House. Thank you, Daniel.

5:01Benjamin Netanyahu:Of course. Thank you.

5:08President Donald Trump:That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.

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