By WILL WEISSERT, SAM MEDNICK and SAMY MAGDY, Associated Press
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, as Washington looks to create fresh momentum for a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that could be in danger of stalling out before a complicated second phase.
Trump could use the face-to-face at his Mar-a-Lago estate to try to leverage his strong relationship with Netanyahu and look for ways to speed up the peace process, especially as Israel’s leader has been accused of not pushing his side to move fast enough.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Trump has championed has mostly held, but progress has slowed recently. Both sides accuse one another of violations, and divisions have emerged among the U.S., Israel and Arab countries about the path forward.
The truce’s first phase began in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the initial Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people. All but one of the 251 hostages taken then have been released, alive or dead.
Now comes the next, far more complicated part. Trump’s 20-point plan — which was approved by the U.N. Security Council — lays out an ambitious vision for ending Hamas’ rule of Gaza.
The two leaders also could discuss non-Gaza topics, including Iran, whose nuclear capabilities Trump continues to insist were “completely and fully obliterated” following U.S. strikes on its nuclear sites in June.
There are many key facets of the ceasefire’s second phase that Israel’s leader doesn’t support or has even openly opposed, said Mona Yacoubian, director and senior adviser of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“This is going to be a really tall order, I think, for President Trump to get Netanyahu to agree,” she said.
“How he does that, what kind of pressure he puts on Netanyahu, I think, is going to be important to watch for,” said Yacoubian, who also said the two could exhibit ”a broader clash of approaches to the region.”
Next phase is complex
If successful, the second phase would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision by a group chaired by Trump and known as the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would form a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run daily affairs in Gaza, under Board of Peace supervision.
It further calls for normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world, and a possible pathway to Palestinian independence. Then there are thorny logistical and humanitarian questions, including rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza, disarming Hamas and creating a security apparatus called the International Stabilization Force.
The Board of Peace would oversee Gaza’s reconstruction under a two-year, renewable U.N. mandate. Its members had been expected to be named by the end of the year and might even be revealed following Monday’s meeting, but the announcement could be pushed into next month.
Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to meet Trump at the White House in his second term, but this will be their first in-person meeting since Trump went to Israel in October to mark the start of the ceasefire’s initial phase. Netanyahu has been to Mar-a-Lago before, including in July 2024 when Trump was still seeking reelection.
Much remains unsettled
Their latest meeting comes after U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son in law, Jared Kushner, recently huddled in Florida with officials from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have been mediating the ceasefire.
Two main challenges have complicated moving to the second phase, according to an official who was briefed on those meetings. Israeli officials have been taking a lot of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from a list given to them by the mediators, and Israel continues its military strikes.
Trump’s plan also calls for the International Stabilization Force, proposed as a multinational body, to maintain security. But it, too, has yet to be formed. Whether details will be forthcoming after Monday’s meeting is unclear.
A Western diplomat said there is a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the International Stabilization Force’s mandate and that of other major countries in the region, as well as European governments.
All spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that haven’t been made public.
The U.S. and Israel want the force to have a “commanding role” in security duties, including disarming Hamas and other militant groups. But countries being courted to contribute troops fear that mandate will make it an “occupation force,” the diplomat said.
Hamas has said it is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons, but insists it has a right to armed resistance as long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory. One U.S. official said a potential plan might be to offer cash incentives in exchange for weapons, echoing a “buy-back” program Witkoff has previously floated.
Questions about Gaza reconstruction
Israeli bombardment and ground operations have transformed neighborhoods in several Gaza cities into rubble-strewn wastelands, with blackened shells of buildings and mounds of debris stretching in all directions.
Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are pressing for a negotiated deal on disarming Hamas, and on an additional Israeli withdrawal from Gaza before moving to next elements of the plan. Those include deployment of the international security force and reconstruction, three Arab officials told The Associated Press.
That appears to run against ideas floated by U.S. officials to quickly start building temporary housing for Palestinians in parts of southern Gaza still controlled by Israeli troops. Three officials said the United Arab Emirates has agreed to fund reconstruction in Gaza, including new communities, although they said discussions are ongoing and plans remain unsettled.
A proposed map created by the U.S. and obtained by the AP shows an area labelled “UAE Temporary Emirates housing complex” inside an Israeli-controlled area of Gaza. The map shows a “U.S. planned community area” surrounding the UAE area.
An Arab official said he was aware of the map, but said it was a suggestion from the U.S. and Israel that was put to the Emiratis and other countries.
The UAE did not respond to multiple requests for comment about whether it has agreed to the plans or to fund the communities. It is not known if the money would be contingent on gestures from Israel and Hamas, such as a commitment to Palestinian statehood or disarmament.
Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Lee Keath in Cairo contributed to this report.
