Netanyahu ‘committed’ to Trump plan for Gaza displacement
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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows that "neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority" will rule Gaza after the war.
PHOTO: AFP
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JERUSALEM - Israel expressed commitment on Feb 17 to a US proposal to take over Gaza and displace its Palestinian residents, as Washington’s top diplomat held talks in Saudi Arabia where he was expected to push the plan opposed by Arab states.
Arriving in the kingdom after talks in Israel, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – on his first visit to the Middle East – met the de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the State Department said.
A Saudi source had earlier told AFP that Riyadh would host a regional summit later this week “to discuss Arab alternatives” to President Donald Trump’s widely criticised plan for Gaza.
Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait will be represented at the summit on Feb 21, the source said.
In a statement on Feb 17, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “committed to US President Trump’s plan for the creation of a different Gaza”, also promising that after the war, “there will be neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority” ruling the territory.
The United States, Israel’s top ally and weapons supplier, says it is open to alternative proposals from Arab governments, but Mr Rubio has said that for now, “the only plan is the Trump plan”.
The proposal lacked detail but Mr Trump said the Palestinians in Gaza – who number more than two million – would be resettled in other countries and the US would “take over” the territory
The United States has also been pushing for a historic deal in which Saudi Arabia would recognise Israel. In return, Riyadh demands the establishment of a Palestinian state – long opposed by Israeli leaders and potentially in contradiction to Mr Trump’s Gaza plan.
On Feb 17, Egypt hosted the latest meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, which initially gathered in Saudi Arabia in 2024.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry stressed Cairo’s “full commitment to implementing the two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and “the necessity of establishing an independent Palestinian state”.
In Riyadh, Mr Rubio was accompanied by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Mr Witkoff had teamed up with an outgoing envoy from former president Joe Biden to push the ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas that took effect on Jan 19 – a day before Mr Trump assumed office.
Mr Trump’s Gaza proposal has strained that truce, the first phase of which would expire in early March.
According to Israeli media, the security Cabinet convened on Feb 17 to discuss phase two of the fragile ceasefire. The second phase has yet to be negotiated.
Mr Netanyahu said he spoke with Mr Rubio about “ Trump’s bold vision for Gaza’s future
On Feb 17, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said a special agency would be established for the “voluntary departure” of Gazans.
A vocal opponent of stopping the war, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said he “will demand a vote” by ministers on Mr Trump’s plan and that Israel must “issue a clear ultimatum to Hamas – immediately release all hostages, leave Gaza for other countries, and lay down your arms”.
Since the truce took effect on Jan 19, a total of 19 Israeli hostages have been released in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.
Out of 251 people seized in Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.
The families of the hostages still in Gaza on Feb 17 marked 500 days of their captivity, holding pictures of their loved ones and banners reading “Home Now”.
Dozens marched towards Mr Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem before they met lawmakers in Parliament.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold an effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a rally in Jerusalem on Feb 17.
PHOTO: AFP
500 days
“My eyes burn from the tears I have shed for the past 500 days,” said Ms Einav Tzangauker, whose son Matan is among those held in Gaza.
Five foreign hostages are among those still held captive. They include Nepali agriculture student Bipin Joshi, 24, who risked his life to save friends, including Himanchal Kattel, at the farm where they worked.
“People should talk more about him,” Mr Kattel said.
In Gaza, over the 500 days since Hamas’ attack sparked the war, Mr Mohammed Abu Mursa said he has known only “humiliation, suffering and bloodshed”.
Mr Abu Mursa and his family have been displaced more than a dozen times trying to survive.
“I just hope the ceasefire holds and that the exchange of prisoners continues,” he said.
Palestinians walk on a street among the rubble of buildings at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Feb 17.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Gaza war has rippled across the Middle East, triggering violence in Yemen and Lebanon, where Iran backs militant groups.
An Israeli strike on Feb 17 in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon killed a Hamas commander, Mohammed Shahine, whom the Israeli military accused of planning attacks.
Hamas’ attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,271 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable. AFP
