Two months after a historic ceasefire brought a halt to more than two years of devastating warfare in Gaza, the path to lasting peace remains fraught with uncertainty. On December 19, 2025, the United States convened a high-level summit in Miami, aiming to advance the next phase of President Donald Trump’s ambitious 20-point peace plan for Gaza. The talks, chaired by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, gathered senior representatives from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey—principal mediators in the region. Notably absent, however, was Israel, which, according to reports from Jerusalem, has entered a "period of waiting" as the U.S. works with its partners to finalize the framework for the next steps.
The Miami summit comes at a critical juncture. The ceasefire, implemented in October, has largely held despite ongoing accusations of violations and fatal military attacks by both Hamas and Israel. Most fighting has stopped, but sporadic violence continues to claim lives on both sides. According to Gaza health authorities, 360 Palestinians have been killed and 922 injured since the truce began. Israel, for its part, claims it is responding to "terrorists" attempting to cross newly demarcated boundaries.
Humanitarian conditions in Gaza remain dire. Millions of Palestinians are still displaced, facing severe shortages of food, water, and medicine. Famine conditions have eased only slightly, and the territory continues to struggle with the slow pace of reconstruction. The United Nations children's agency described a "shockingly high" number of Gazan children as acutely malnourished, while heavy rains have flooded thousands of tents, compounding a growing health crisis. The Rafah border crossing into Egypt, which was meant to open in the first phase of the ceasefire, remains closed—Israel insists it will only open once the remains of the last Israeli hostage are returned.
The first phase of Trump’s plan, which took effect on October 10, 2025, saw the release of most hostages held by Hamas, the freeing of thousands of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, and an influx of humanitarian aid. All but one deceased Israeli hostage’s remains have been handed over by Hamas, fulfilling a key requirement of the initial agreement. Yet, the transition to the more complex second phase is proving far more difficult.
At the heart of the next stage is the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) to maintain security in Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas—a demand that remains a major sticking point. Hamas leaders have rejected calls to give up their weapons, insisting they have a "legitimate right" to retain them. Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told the Associated Press that the group is willing to discuss "freezing or storing" its weapons, but will only surrender them to a future Palestinian state or under a long-term truce with security guarantees from Israel. As Reuters reported, the U.S. hopes to deploy the ISF by January, but many potential contributors—including Indonesia, Cyprus, and Azerbaijan—are seeking clarity on the force’s mandate and rules of engagement.
Turkey has expressed willingness to contribute troops, arguing that its involvement would help ensure "justice is served." Israel, however, strongly opposes any Turkish role, citing Ankara’s longstanding support for Hamas. Qatar, meanwhile, has emphasized that the international force must remain bipartisan, underscoring the delicate balancing act facing mediators. "The plan says many of the right things, but it’s not very clear what happens first and what happens next," Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide observed at the Doha Forum, warning that progress must be made soon to avoid "a return to war or descent into total anarchy."
Another key element of Phase Two is the creation of a temporary, technocratic Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, effectively sidelining Hamas. This government would be overseen by a newly established "Board of Peace" chaired by President Trump himself, with the rest of the board comprised of "heads of the most important countries," as Trump told reporters at the White House. The Board is expected to be announced early in 2026 and would supervise the transition, ensuring that key services such as infrastructure, water, education, and health are provided to Gaza’s population.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with President Trump on December 29, 2025, to discuss the next steps in advancing the plan. The meeting, which could take place at the White House or Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, may prove pivotal for Israel’s regional situation after the Gaza war. Yet, Trump’s Middle East policy has been anything but predictable during his 11 months in office, leaving allies and adversaries alike uncertain about his next moves.
Underlying these diplomatic efforts are deep-seated mistrust and competing visions for Gaza’s future. Israel’s current governance plan divides Gaza in half, with Israel controlling 53 percent of the territory and Hamas holding the remainder. Israel has demarcated a "yellow line" with colored concrete blocks—a flashpoint for continued violence and confusion among Palestinians seeking to cross it. According to Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, "If Hamas is not disarmed, dismantled, and the Gaza Strip demilitarized, then nothing will happen."
The international community remains divided. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803, passed last month, endorses the Trump plan and the deployment of an international force, but stops short of explicitly requiring a pathway to Palestinian statehood. Saudi Arabia and other key partners have insisted that such a pathway is essential for durable peace and for normalizing diplomatic ties with Israel. "The ultimate objective is security for all, it is regional integration, which is embedded in the realization of a Palestinian state," said Manal Radwan, head of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs negotiation team.
Despite growing international recognition of Palestinian aspirations for self-determination, Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out Palestinian statehood—a stance unlikely to change with Israeli elections looming in 2026. Many Israelis fear that Hamas could rearm and launch further attacks, while Palestinians worry that Israel will never complete its withdrawal or allow full reconstruction, leaving Gaza in limbo.
In the meantime, the fragile ceasefire faces constant threats. Israel and Hamas continue to trade accusations of violating the truce. On December 13, Israel killed Raed Saad, a senior Hamas commander, in a drone strike—the most high-profile killing since the ceasefire began. Trump reportedly warned Israeli leaders that such actions risk undermining the truce. Hamas, for its part, is demanding international pressure on Israel to open border crossings and halt military strikes.
As the year draws to a close, the world watches closely. The coming weeks could determine whether Gaza moves toward peace and reconstruction or slips back into chaos. With so many moving parts and entrenched interests, the future of Trump’s Gaza peace plan—and the region—remains uncertain.
