Trump reportedly pressing Netanyahu to advance Gaza plan in wake of election

US President Donald Trump urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Thursday to advance Washington’s Gaza peace plan now that Israel’s election is over, Channel 12 reported Sunday, citing two American sources familiar with the conversation.

Implementation of the plan — which calls for Hamas’s disarmament and the transfer of control in Gaza to a Palestinian technocratic government — was effectively frozen during Israel’s election campaign, with many officials citing the political backlash Netanyahu’s government would face over allowing any reconstruction in Gaza before Hamas is fully disarmed.

Trump, who endorsed Netanyahu for reelection, now wants to see progress on the plan regardless of which government is formed in Israel, the report said.

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A senior US official told Channel 12 that Gaza’s reconstruction will be contingent on progress toward Hamas’s disarmament, stressing that Washington needs Israel’s full cooperation, though the source did not specify the required degree of disarmament before reconstruction.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s senior envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff also participated in the call, the report added.

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A source familiar with the call said that the Trump administration, the US-backed Board of Peace, and Israel all agree that Trump’s 20-point plan is the best way forward, describing the conversation as a positive and constructive one, while adding that the officials also addressed the war with Iran.

In a separate report, Channel 12 said Sunday that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir recently convened an emergency meeting over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, amid reports of more than 70,000 tents being flooded under severe weather conditions, affecting tens of thousands of displaced people.

Unnamed security officials told the network that the military is concerned about efforts by Hamas to “exploit the humanitarian crisis” to pressure Israel into beginning reconstruction before the terror group disarms, using images of displaced Palestinians to increase international pressure and buy time to rebuild its military capabilities.

Zamir instructed officials to counter the alleged campaign through public diplomacy efforts while continuing to facilitate the entry of humanitarian supplies that Israel is obligated to provide, according to the report.

The IDF declined to comment on the reported meeting.

Separately Sunday, Israel’s mission to the United Nations asserted that the UK’s Labour government was rallying support among some 50 countries for a joint statement calling on Israel to ease restrictions on supplies going into Gaza ahead of the winter.

The effort, according to Israel, expands on September’s “Gaza: A Call to Action on Humanitarian Access and Health,” which was endorsed by Australia, Denmark, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UK. The British government has not confirmed that it is leading such an initiative.

“The Labour government seems to have forgotten that Hamas even exists,” said Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon. “Time and again, the international community points the finger at Israel while ignoring the terrorist organization’s responsibility for the situation in Gaza.”

He called on London to instead demand the disarming of Hamas.

Amid the harsh weather, Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defense said Sunday that five people died, three children and two women, in an incident linked to the heavy rains that began the day before.

“A sandy embankment collapsed onto tents housing displaced people at a shelter center south of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip” said spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

“Rescue teams are continuing to search for missing people,” he added. A video circulating on social media showed dozens of men at the scene, some trying to lift a large stone slab while others dug beneath it with shovels.

The agency further warned that “displaced people against setting up tents or remaining near sand masses and elevated soil mounds, particularly during periods of rainfall, as these pose a real threat to their lives” and called on humanitarian organizations to provide the necessary equipment.

Heavy rain on Saturday flooded tens of thousands of displaced people’s tents in war-devastated Gaza, Palestinian authorities said, leaving them without shelter.

Hamas municipal and civil defense officials said they were unable to cope with the storm because of fuel shortages and damage to equipment. They claimed that Israel had destroyed hundreds of vehicles, including bulldozers and others used to pump water, during its war against Hamas, and has since barred entry of construction equipment during the ceasefire.

They said that Israel has not allowed prefabricated homes to shelter the displaced in Gaza since the truce was announced, and has only permitted the entry of limited numbers of tents.

Israel has said it will not allow reconstruction work to begin until Hamas agrees to disarm and relinquish control of the enclave.

COGAT, Israel’s Defense Ministry agency that coordinates aid in Gaza, said in a statement on Friday that it had stepped up efforts to improve sanitary conditions across Gaza before the heavy rain, which had been expected, in coordination with international organizations.

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