Trump pushes peace plan as Israeli tanks close in on Gaza City

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Israeli tanks pushed closer to the heart of Gaza City on Monday as US President Donald Trump prepared to unveil a peace plan in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

The assault comes amid one of Israel’s biggest offensives of the war, flattening neighbourhoods and killing at least 30 people across Gaza on Monday, according to medics.

More than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began nearly two years ago, Gaza health authorities say. Hamas fighters precipitated the conflict with an attack that killed around 1,200 people and seized 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Trump has touted “something special” ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu, billing his latest bid to end the war as a historic chance for peace. After nearly two years of failed diplomacy, Washington presented a 21-point plan to Arab and Muslim states last week calling for a permanent ceasefire and the release of hostages. Trump said he believed a deal was close.

“We have a real chance for greatness in the Middle East. All are on board for something special, first time ever. We will get it done,” he wrote on social media on Sunday.

Israeli, Arab concerns

Two foreign diplomats in the Middle East said the US plan was more a set of broad objectives than a detailed blueprint. Israel has objected to several elements and is seeking revisions in discussions with Washington, they said. Arab states have also requested amendments, though diplomats said most had backed the plan in principle and were waiting to see what emerges from Trump’s talks with Netanyahu.

Another source familiar with the talks said Israeli officials had raised concerns about the role of Palestinian security forces in Gaza after the war, expelling Hamas officials from the enclave and assigning overall security responsibility.

Shehbaz backs 20-point Trump Gaza peace plan

Egypt, which has mediated past ceasefires, is concerned the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority should not be sidelined from administering Gaza, and wants guarantees Israel would abide by any deal once hostages are freed.

Palestinian scepticism

Many Palestinians remain wary. “Trump has made promises in the past that all turned out to be fiction,” said Huda, a woman sheltering in Deir Al Balah with two children.

Abu Abdallah, camping with nearly two dozen relatives on Gaza City’s coast, said his family was waiting to see the outcome of the White House meeting before deciding whether to flee south. “It is either peace or Gaza City would be wiped out, just like Rafah was,” he said, referring to a southern city Israel flattened earlier in the war.

Hospitals under fire

Israeli tanks advanced to within a few hundred metres of Gaza City’s main Al Shifa Hospital on Monday. Another hospital, Al Helo, housing 90 patients including 12 babies in incubators, was surrounded and shelled overnight.

The UN children’s agency called for an immediate evacuation of infants. “It is time to move them because Gaza City again has become a combat zone, but moving them where? There is no safe place for them to go,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires told Reuters.

Escalating toll and political rifts

Israel has said it will not halt fighting unless Hamas frees all hostages and permanently surrenders its weapons. Hamas says it is willing to release captives if the war ends but will not disarm while Palestinians continue to seek a state.

The Gaza offensive has worsened a humanitarian crisis that has deepened Israel’s international isolation. Several Western countries, including Britain and France, have recognised Palestinian independence in defiance of Israeli objections.

Inside Israel, the conflict has fuelled political divisions. Right-wing cabinet members are urging Netanyahu to press on with the war, while some families of hostages are calling for a deal.

A relatives’ group appealed directly to Trump ahead of his talks with Netanyahu: “The stakes are too high, and our families have waited too long for any interference to derail this progress.”