WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump will meet leaders and officials from multiple Muslim-majority countries on Tuesday and discuss the situation in Gaza, with Israel launching a fresh campaign against Hamas as the war in the enclave nears the two-year mark.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday that Trump will hold a multilateral meeting with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan. A person familiar with the matter said Gaza will be discussed.
During the meeting, Trump and White House Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to unveil the US plan for the post-war management of Gaza that former UK prime minister Tony Blair has been developing in recent months and that was revealed last week in The Times of Israel.
In addition to freeing hostages and ending the war, Trump is expected to discuss US plans around an Israeli withdrawal and post-war governance in Gaza, without Hamas involvement.
Washington wants Arab and Muslim countries to agree to send military forces to Gaza to enable Israel’s withdrawal and to secure funding for transition and rebuilding programs.
“Tomorrow’s meeting could be fairly significant. We have a pretty good idea of the contours for ending the war. We want to present what we think is the only viable path forward and we want regional buy-in and support to make it successful,” an unnamed US official told Axios.
An Arab source told the outlet: “Our understanding is that Trump wants to get our feedback and support for the US plan to end the war and then push it forward.”
Israeli officials cited by Channel 12 news said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is familiar with parts of the plan, but that it is not “the Netanyahu plan,” and that parts of it, such as the Palestinian Authority’s involvement in governance, may be difficult for Israel to accept.
Trump will also address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, a day after dozens of world leaders gathered at the United Nations to embrace a Palestinian state, a landmark diplomatic shift nearly two years into the Gaza war that faces fierce resistance from Israel and the United States.
The nations said a two-state solution was the only way to achieve peace, but Israel said the recognition of a Palestinian state was a reward for terror in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Trump had promised a quick end to the war in Gaza, but a resolution remains elusive eight months into his term.
Trump’s term began with a two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which ended in March when Israel refused to move toward a permanent end to the war and Hamas refused to release more hostages unless it did. Jerusalem has vowed to continue to prosecute the war until Hamas is utterly defeated and all hostages are freed.
More recently, images of emaciated Palestinians, including children, amid accusations of starvation, have sparked global outrage against Israel campaign’s assault on Gaza.
In February, Trump proposed a US takeover of Gaza and a permanent displacement of Palestinians from there. It was labeled as an “ethnic cleansing” proposal by rights experts and the United Nations. Forcible displacement is illegal under international law. Trump cast the plan as a redevelopment idea. It was eagerly embraced by the Israeli right. But Trump seems to have since cooled on the idea, and it has made little progress.
Meanwhile, Hamas has drafted a letter to Trump requesting that he guarantee a 60-day truce in exchange for releasing half of the remaining 48 hostages, Fox News reported Monday, citing a senior administration official and a source involved in the negotiations.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed the report to The Times of Israel. It was unclear if the letter addressed the issue of Hamas’s disarmament, an Israeli demand that the terror group has rejected.
The report came as Hamas released a propaganda video of hostage Alon Ohel and captives’ families rallied outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, demanding a ceasefire-hostage deal. Hostage families also met with the IDF chief of staff, who reportedly told them he was pressing the government to reach a ceasefire-hostage deal.
Officials hope the letter will help jump-start the Gaza ceasefire-hostage talks, which have stalled after Israel earlier this month carried out an assassination attempt on Hamas’s leadership in the Qatari capital Doha, Fox News said.
Witkoff had in May put forward a proposal apparently similar to the one in the Hamas letter, with a 60-day ceasefire, a guarantee from Trump that Israel would not resume hostilities, and the release of about half the hostages, who then numbered 58.
Netanyahu was reported to express support for the deal at the time, but Hamas made new demands that Witkoff said represented a rejection of the offer.
Netanyahu has since said he would seek only a comprehensive ceasefire-hostage deal that would release all the hostages and see Hamas disarmed. Witkoff has also said the US now seeks only a comprehensive deal.
Trump is expected to discuss the new plan in his meeting with Netanyahu next Monday. The Israeli premier is to depart for the US for the General Assembly after the end of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began Monday night.
It was unclear if Trump would address the plan during his speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, before he meets with Arab and Muslim leaders.
Trump will speak about the “renewal of American strength around the world,” while calling out “globalist institutions that have significantly decayed the world order” and offering “his straightforward and constructive vision for the world,” said Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman.
On Tuesday evening, Trump will host a reception for more than 100 world leaders before returning to Washington, where he will host Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Leavitt added.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 48 hostages, including 47 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.
They include the bodies of at least 26 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Among the bodies held by Hamas is an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 65,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.