Ceasefire, Prisoner Swaps, and Who Governs Gaza: Inside Trump’s 21-Point Plan
President Donald Trump’s team has re-floated a 21-point “day after” blueprint for Gaza—pairing a rapid ceasefire and hostage-prisoner swaps with the first verified Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pullback and an international stabilization force—and Giorgia Valente walks readers through what’s in it and where it could crack. The plan sketches phased steps toward Palestinian Authority (PA) administration conditioned on reforms and security benchmarks.
Israel has neither accepted nor rejected the proposal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his Sept. 26 UN address to restate red lines: a demilitarized Gaza, “overriding” Israeli security control, and no externally imposed statehood—“Israel will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats.” Jerusalem also insists on holding the Philadelphi Corridor to choke off smuggling, keeps distance from restoring the PA “as is,” and has floated conditional safe passage for Hamas leaders if all hostages are freed. Coalition figures Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir warn against any pathway to Palestinian statehood or a PA return, pressure reinforced by lawmaker Yitzhak Kroizer, who told The Media Line, “Israel did not enter this war to hand Gaza on a silver platter to another terrorist entity.”
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Valente then sizes up the other fulcrums: Hamas’ bargaining over hostage sequencing; a governance-exclusion clause that would require the group to disband; and vague demilitarization and “de-radicalization” tracks that could stall on the ground. On the PA side, policy chief Nidal Foqaha says Ramallah seeks sole authority over policing and civil institutions, restoration of tax transfers, movement through Jordan, a dated election roadmap, and explicit two-state language tied to 1967 lines with land swaps and East Jerusalem as capital.
If you care where ceasefire mechanics meet politics, Giorgia Valente’s full analysis is the map you need.
