Trump’s Gaza Plan Is Ready: The Real Test Is Execution

After nearly a year of quiet diplomacy, the United States and its partners have assembled a comprehensive blueprint to end the Israel-Hamas war and reshape Gaza. The plan includes demilitarization, Israeli withdrawal, Palestinian technocratic governance, international security forces, and a massive reconstruction effort. But as the machinery stands ready, the true challenge is not drafting documents, it is making them work on the ground.

Why the Gaza Plan Stalls: The Sequencing Deadlock

Both Israel and Hamas have signaled willingness to move forward, yet they remain locked in a chicken-and-egg dispute. Israel insists Hamas must disarm first, fearing that a withdrawal before demilitarization would allow the terror group to regroup. Hamas, in turn, refuses to surrender weapons before Israeli forces leave, claiming that doing so would remove any incentive for withdrawal.

The only viable path is parallel action. Neither side goes first; both move together. This principle must anchor the post-election implementation process, as Israel heads to the polls on October 27.

What a Coordinated Withdrawal Looks Like in Practice

Washington should prepare an implementation map, not another diplomatic initiative, ready for whichever government emerges from the Israeli election. Gaza would be divided into clearly defined zones, each following the same sequence simultaneously:

• Hamas hands over and decommissions its weapons under international supervision.
• Israeli forces withdraw in an orderly manner.
• The International Stabilization Force deploys.
• A new Palestinian police force assumes security duties.
• The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza takes civilian control.
• Reconstruction begins immediately, with bulldozers following where weapons disappear.

Schools reopen, electricity and water are restored, families move from tents into temporary housing, and Gazans are employed clearing rubble and rebuilding their own communities. This is how demilitarization becomes more attractive than armed rule, and how Israeli withdrawal becomes compatible with Israeli security.

Verification Is Key: One Authority, One Police Force, One Gun

The United States must demand rigorous verification from all parties. Hamas cannot be allowed to hide weapons or preserve an underground military structure. Israel cannot withdraw on paper while maintaining permanent control over territory it supposedly left. The Palestinian technocratic government cannot govern from outside; its ministers, engineers, and administrators must enter Gaza and begin working. Authority is created by exercising it.

The International Stabilization Force must turn commitments into deployment, particularly along the lines separating Israeli forces from Palestinian-administered areas. Reconstruction is not merely humanitarian aid; it is part of the security architecture. Every Palestinian should see a direct link between demilitarization and a return to normal life. Every Israeli should see a direct link between withdrawal and a security system that prevents Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities. That is the bargain.

If Netanyahu Wins: A Regional Package Built on Benefits

But what if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forms another government? Then President Trump faces a different test. The question would not be whether Netanyahu agrees with every element of Trump’s strategy, but whether one government can block a broader transformation that Washington and its regional partners deem vital.

Trump could pivot to working with major Arab states, especially Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to construct a regional package centered on benefits rather than painful concessions. For Israel, that could mean normalization with Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations, deeper economic integration, American security guarantees, major investment, and new transportation and energy corridors. For Palestinians, it could mean massive reconstruction, economic development, freedom of movement, restored political agency, and a credible path toward self-determination.

The objective is to make cooperation overwhelmingly more attractive than obstruction. But incentives without consequences are rarely sufficient. If either side blocks an agreed framework, it must face defined political, diplomatic, and economic costs, applied transparently to both parties.

Saudi Arabia’s Central Role in the Regional Transformation

Bin Salman could become the linchpin. Saudi Arabia can offer what Washington cannot alone: entry into the region itself. Saudi normalization with Israel, combined with Palestinian political progress and Gulf investment, could transform the strategic equation. Gaza cannot remain an island detached from this larger transformation.

Palestinians must elect their own leaders. That means ensuring legislative elections take place, followed by presidential elections. The technocratic government should stabilize Gaza and prepare the ground for elected governance, not become a substitute for it.

Beyond Gaza: West Bank Realities and the Bigger Prize

Israel also has obligations beyond Gaza. Settlement expansion, annexationist measures, and settler violence in the West Bank cannot be separated from any serious regional strategy. Recent moves to expand the E1 settlement project illustrate how West Bank developments can directly affect the viability of a wider political process.

The great prize is not simply rebuilding Gaza. It is connecting Gaza stabilization, Palestinian elections, and Israeli security to something much larger: Israeli-Saudi normalization, regional economic integration, a new security architecture, Palestinian political renewal, and an agreed political horizon for ending the conflict, including the formal establishment of a Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967, borders.

Will Trump Turn Plans into Reality?

Trump likes deals, and this could become one of the biggest of his presidency. Much of the machinery is already in place. What is missing is execution. Peace will not arrive after everyone agrees on everything; it will be constructed in pieces, while a much larger regional package makes the destination worth reaching.

The plans are written. After the Israeli election, the real question is whether the United States and its regional partners are determined to turn them into reality.

The writer is the Middle East director of the International Communities Organization and the co-head of the Alliance for Two States.