“He has no other choice but to accept” Trump’s plan for a ceasefire, said Eytan Gilboa, an expert on US-Israel relations at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.
“Simply because the US and Trump have remained almost his only ally in the international community.”
‘Comprehensive agreement’
In Israel, tens of thousands of protesters have pressured Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire, and yesterday they urged Trump to use his influence.
“The only thing that can stop the slide into the abyss is a full, comprehensive agreement that ends the war and brings all the hostages and the soldiers home,” said Lishay Miran-Lavi, wife of Omri Miran, who remains captive in Gaza.
Directly addressing Trump, she urged: “Use your influence with Prime Minister Netanyahu”.
Israel’s international isolation has deepened in recent days, with countries including the UK, France, Canada, and Australia officially recognising Palestinian statehood, breaking with longstanding US-led diplomatic protocols.
Trump’s 21-point plan, according to a diplomatic source, envisions a permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a major influx of humanitarian aid.
Hamas political bureau member Hossam Badran said that the group “had not received any official proposal from Qatari or Egyptian mediators”.
Arab and Muslim leaders have welcomed the proposal but have also called for an immediate halt to Israel’s military operations and any occupation of Gaza.
Some elements of the plan will prove hard for Netanyahu to swallow and could even lead to the collapse of his right-wing government coalition.
Among the most controversial is the involvement of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) in the future governance of Gaza.
The PA ruled the territory until Hamas seized control in 2007, and its potential restoration represents a red line for Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners.
While the US proposal includes conditions on the PA’s return - implementing reform programmes - these changes “could take years” to materialise, Gilboa warned.
‘Broad consensus’
Several far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition have threatened to collapse the government if he agrees to the PA’s return, or if he ends the war without defeating Hamas.
However, opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered a parliamentary “safety net”, promising his centrist Yesh Atid party would support a ceasefire and hostage-release deal - but it is not clear whether other opposition parties would follow suit.
“This kind of broad plan would need a broad consensus,” said Ksenia Svetlova, a former Knesset member who now heads the regional co-operation NGO ROPES.
Svetlova predicted Netanyahu would only accept parts of the deal, while trying to negotiate or postpone decisions on other elements which “seem difficult in this moment”.
Another contentious point in the US proposal is who would guarantee security in the Gaza Strip once the Israeli Army pulls out and Hamas is disarmed.
The proposal envisions an international security force comprising Palestinian personnel alongside troops from Arab and Muslim nations.
However, critical details about command structure and operational control remain unclear.
“This plan is internationalising the Gaza conflict in an unprecedented way,” Svetlova said, “but without a clear plan on who will be the guiding star, what the end goals are, who will see it through”.
“The unpredictability factor runs wild here, really.”
-Agence France-Presse
