What is stopping everyone from agreeing in principle to a “Good Friday Agreement “. They agree to lay down their weapons and cease killing each other. They don’t have to get along with each other, they have to stop the killing.
2. Once hostages and prisoners are exchanged, Hamas will need a mechanism to demilitarize and leave Gaza , if desired. The Arab states can work with both Hamas and Israel to facilitate demilitarization.
Setting up a provisional government would be the 3 rd phase and that , too, requires negotiations with all parties concerned.
The objective for Hamas, Israelis and Palestinians is to end hostilities as soon as possible.
The plan outlined by Haaretz.
At the White House, U.S. President Trump said PM Netanyahu agreed to his plan to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas. Netanyahu confirmed he backss Trump’s plan, adding that if Hamas rejects the deal “Israel will finish the job.” The White House published Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the war and a “New Gaza.” In Trump’s presence, Netanyahu apologized to Qatar’s PM for Israel’s strike on Doha earlier this month. Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza lacks a clear implementation strategy, Palestinian and Arab sources said. Spain banned U.S. aircraft and ships loaded with military equipment for Israel from passing through two strategic bases in its territory. 
- According to Trump, Israel will withdraw from Gaza in phases, and would have full U.S. backing to destroy Hamas if it rejects the agreement. If Hamas agreed, Arab and Muslim countries “are going to be dealing with” it, according to Trump, who said “maybe even Iran can join the Abraham Accords.”
- Standing alongside Trump, Netanyahu said he supports Trump’s plan, adding that “if Hamas rejects Trump’s plan, Israel will finish the job itself.“
- The White House publishedTrump’s 20 point plan to end the war in Gaza, release all hostages and rebuild a “New Gaza” following his meeting with Netanyahu. Further key points include:
■ If both Hamas and Israel agree to the plan, the Gaza war will immediately end. Israeli forces will make a partial withdrawal.
■ Within 72 hours, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be released.
■ Israel will then release 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences as well as 1700 Gazans detained after October 7
■ Humanitarian aid will start being conveyed to Gaza through the United Nations, the Red Crescent and other international institutions
■ No one will be forced to leave Gaza.
■ Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza.
■ While Gaza re-development advances and when the PA reform program is faithfully carried out, the “conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.
- In a three-way call with Trump from the White House, Netanyahu apologized to Qatar’s PM Mohammed Al Thani for Israel’s strike on Doha earlier this month targeting Hamas officials.
- Hamas official Mahmoud Mirdawi told Al Jazeera that the group has not yet received Trump’s plan, and said it expresses a position close to the Israeli position, deeming it an “attempt to suppress the international momentum and the wave of recognition for a Palestinian state.”
■ HOSTAGES/CEASE-FIRE: Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza lacks a clear timetable or implementation strategy, Palestinian and Arab sources told Qatar’s Al-Araby, adding that the only clear sections concern the release of the hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Noticeably absent is a detailed plan for the withdrawal of IDF forces from Gaza, they said.
- Palestinian sources told Asharq Al Awsat that Trump’s new plan allows Israel to attack Gaza in the event of a security threat, adding that Hamas is worried that Israel will propose far-reaching interpretations for the term “security threat” to resume IDF operations.
- Other sources said they have reservations about the proposal to establish a transitional international administrative authority in Gaza, fearing that the mechanism will turn into a permanent “foreign rule,” severing Gaza from the West Bank and the Palestinian Authority.
- Released hostage Ilana Gritzewsky and two hostages’ relatives asked to meet with Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, during a visit to the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave but were denied access.
- The Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote an open letter to Trump on Sunday night, expressing support for his plan to end the war, and calling on him to “stand firm against any attempts to sabotage the deal you have proposed… The stakes are too high, and our families have waited too long, for any interference to derail this progress.”
- Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said that he presented Netanyahu with his conditions to end the fighting in Gaza, which include “a genuine and complete withdrawal of Hamas from Gaza” and the Strip’s demilitarization; continued IDF presence on the Philadelphi route along the Gaza-Sinai border; and barring the Palestinian Authority’s involvement in governing Gaza.
“It is clear at this stage to the troops that Israeli hostages are present in the operational areas. Therefore, within the combat zone, the army has marked specific areas where hostages might be located, above and below ground. S., who recently assumed command of the brigade, is responsible for the tragic case in December 2023 in which Alon Shamriz, Yotam Haim, and Samer El-Talalka were killed after being held hostage in Gaza City’s Shujaiyeh neighborhood. ‘It is indeed our concern that a hostage could emerge from a tunnel or building and be accidentally struck,’ he explains. ‘It’s a scenario that could happen again’” – Yaniv Kubovich, reporting from Gaza City
■ GAZA: The Hamas-run Health Ministry said that 50 Palestinians were killed, five while seeking aid, in the past 24 hours. According to the ministry, 66,055 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began.
- Former British PM Tony Blair’s plan for running Gaza after the war is based on a multilayered, hierarchical structure with senior international diplomats and businesspeople at the top and Palestinians running things on the ground at the bottom, according to a draft seen by Haaretz, which a diplomatic source said was written less than two weeks ago.
- Blair himself is slated to hold the position of Gaza’s top political executive, but will work “in close consultation” with the PA, an Israeli government source said.
- The governing body will operate under a mandate from the UN Security Council and be given broad powers, including responsibility for fighting terror via “targeted operations to prevent the resurgence of armed groups” and disrupting weapons smuggling. This provision contradicts Netanyahu’s repeated insistence that Israel must retain overall security responsibility for Gaza.
“What is important is that the war must end. For a long time – certainly since Netanyahu made the political decision to violate the cease-fire and return to fighting in March – a futile war has been waged in the Gaza Strip. The events of the past few days, among them the megalomaniacal directive by Netanyahu to have the army position loudspeakers near Gazans so they couldhear his United Nations speech, only underscore the need to bring an end to the killing, to free the living hostages and to retrieve the dead” – Amos Harel