Will the Gaza peace plan move forward? Trump says Hamas must disarm
- - Will the Gaza peace plan move forward? Trump says Hamas must disarm
Francesca Chambers and Zac Anderson, USA TODAYDecember 30, 2025 at 2:14 AM
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WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump acknowledged the Hamas militant group would have to lay down its weapons for his Gaza peace plan to advance to the next phase − but said as he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave may be able to begin sooner.
The talks were meant to jumpstart progress on the second phase of the war-ending deal his administration secured three months ago, as movement on the agreement that dictates Hamas' disarmament stalled.
"There has to be a disarmament," Trump told reporters on Dec. 29 from his Palm Beach, Florida, estate. "There has to be a disarming of Hamas, otherwise very quickly," Trump said of the phase two implementation.
A U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect in October, with the first phase including a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, an increase in humanitarian aid and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to the media as he welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago club on December 29, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. The two leaders held a bilateral meeting to discuss regional security in the Middle East as well as the U.S.-Israel partnership.
All of the living Israeli hostages have been returned, along with the remains of all but one, Ran Gvili, who's believed to be deceased. Netanyahu met with Gvili's parents in Florida ahead of his meeting with Trump.
Advancing to the next phase of the 20-point plan has proven difficult, though, with both sides accusing the other of violating the deal.
The plan calls for the eventual withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and new leadership for the Gaza strip. The United States hoped that the November endorsement of the plan by the United Nations Security Council would pave the way for the creation of an International Stabilization Force to provide security in Gaza and a Board of Peace to supervise a transitional government, yet the composition of both remains under discussion.
Trump said said earlier this month that he's aiming to announce which world leaders will serve on the board in January.
In Florida, he predicted that reconstruction will "begin pretty soon" and said work on sanitation was beginning.
The stalemate over other aspects of the agreement threaten to weaken Trump’s biggest foreign policy achievement since returning to office, one he celebrated with an October trip to the Middle East where he spoke to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, and held a signing ceremony in Egypt.
The ceasefire eased fighting in a two-year conflict − which began with the surprise Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas − that has ebbed and flowed, with Israel has carrying out additional strikes that have killed hundreds of Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, since the peace deal was reached. The death of two Israeli soldiers, who the government said were killed by Hamas militants, also threatened to collapse the agreement.
Trump is ending 2025 with a pair of high-profile diplomatic moves aimed at addressing the two biggest conflicts during his second term. The day before he met with Netanyahu, Trump welcomed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Mar-a-Lago to work on a peace plan for Ukraine, and spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the phone.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says Gaza peace plan can only move forward if Hamas disarms
Source: “AOL Breaking”
