Trump bares new Gaza ‘peace’ plan

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — United States (US) President Donald Trump has presented a plan to end the Gaza war in a meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders this week, his envoy said Wednesday, as Gaza’s civil defense agency reported dozens killed in Israeli attacks.

US envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been involved in months of mediation efforts seeking an end to the nearly two-year war, said Trump had detailed a “21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza” in Tuesday’s meeting with a group of leaders from Arab and Muslim nations.

“We’re hopeful, and I might say even confident, that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough,” Witkoff told a summit on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The plan “addresses Israeli concerns as well as the concerns of all the neighbors in the region,” he said without elaborating on the 21 points.

A joint statement from the governments represented in Tuesday’s meeting said the leaders had “reiterated their commitment to cooperate with President Trump, and stressed the importance of his leadership to end the war.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu said later Israel was not bound by a wave of recogitions of the State of Palestine, including by Australia, Britain, Canada and France.

“The shameful capitulation of some leaders to Palestinian terror does not obligate Israel in any way. There will be no Palestinian state,” he said.

On the ground, Israel pressed its assault on Gaza City which has displaced hundreds of thousands.

Israel says the major air and ground offensive aims to root out Hamas, the Palestinian militant group whose October 2023 attack sparked the war.

The civil defense agency said hundreds of families have been sleeping on the ground for days after fleeing from northern Gaza, unable to secure temporary shelter.

“I appeal to the world: help us,” Thaer Saqr, 39, said. “I say to Israel: you want us to evacuate, but how can we when we have no shekels, no transportation, and no place to go?”