Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu secured “significant 11th-hour changes” to United States (US) President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace deal, it has emerged, raising concerns if Pakistan among other Muslim states had previously agreed on a different draft.
According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu, during the extensive meeting with Trump, managed to secure the changes to the proposal regarding the scope and nature of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, along with the disarmament of Hamas.
“Point 3 of what was then a 21-point plan obtained by The Times of Israel stated that ‘Israeli forces will withdraw to the battle lines as of when the [US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s] proposal was presented to prepare for hostage release’,” it said.
The publication noted that the previous version did not specify which Witkoff proposal and the plan published on Monday stated that “Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed-upon line” without any further elaborations.
However, it added, that it appeared to refer to a “new map” that was “included in the updated version that illustrated three phases of Israeli withdrawals from Gaza”.
The report further said that the map showed that “Israeli troops will be able to remain in the majority of the Gaza Strip even after the first pullback of Israel Defence Forces (IDF) troops in preparation for all of the hostages to be released”.
“They will then be able to remain in those positions until the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) of Arab and Muslim countries is prepared to deploy and fully operate to disarm Hamas, the plan states. Even after the second phase of the withdrawal, the IDF will remain in over a third of the Strip, the map indicates,” the report said.
“The third withdrawal will clear the final troops out of Gaza, but the map shows that a security buffer zone will be established along the perimeter of the entire Strip, another Israeli demand aimed at mitigating the threat of another October 7-like invasion,” it added.
Further, the report said that point 16 of the original plan simply stated that the IDF would progressively hand over the Gaza territory that it occupies.
It added that the updated version added two lines that “further qualify the nature of the withdrawal in Israel’s favour”, stating that IDF “will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarisation that will be agreed upon between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the US”.
“Practically, the IDF will progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies to the ISF according to an agreement they will make with the transitional authority until they are withdrawn completely from Gaza, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat,” read the plan announced on Monday.
While it also mentioned that Netanyahu managed to secure concessions regarding disarmament during a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and top adviser Jared Kushner at his hotel in New York on Thursday and Sunday, the report comes as US-based news outlet Axios also claims that the deal before Hamas was significantly different than the one the US and a group of Arab and Muslim countries had previously agreed on.
“Trump presented the situation as straightforward,” Axios reported.
“Israel, the US and its Arab partners were all aligned on a final plan, and Hamas had to agree or face annihilation,” it said.
The publication claimed that officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey were furious over the changes, and Qataris had tried to convince the Trump administration to not release the plan due to said objections but the White House did so anyway.
It merits a mention that Pakistan’s Deputy prime minister (PM) and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has also seemingly distanced Pakistani experts from the plan.
Appearing on Geo News a day after Trump, standing alongside Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, asserted that PM Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir fully backed his Gaza plan, the FM revealed that Islamabad had held detailed discussions with Trump’s team on the proposal and later submitted its amendments to the points shared by Washington.
However, he said, the draft did not incorporate all of Islamabad’s amendments.
Just hours before the President Trump’s announcement, the premier had welcomed the plan, saying durable peace between the Palestinian people and Israel was essential for regional stability and economic growth.
In a post on X, PM Shehbaz said he was “convinced that durable peace between the Palestinian people and Israel would be essential in bringing political stability and economic growth to the region”.