In a series of dramatic moves that have upended expectations in the Middle East, U.S. President Donald Trump has thrown his considerable weight behind a new peace agreement to end the long-running conflict between Israel and Hamas, while drawing a stark red line against any Israeli annexation of the West Bank. The events of October 2025 mark a pivotal turn in U.S.-Israeli relations, with Trump leveraging both carrots and sticks in a bid to reshape the region’s future—and his own legacy as a peacemaker.
Trump’s approach, as chronicled by TIME, The Atlantic, and Fox News, has been nothing short of forceful. On October 4, 2025, Trump delivered an ultimatum to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call that would soon reverberate through political circles in Jerusalem and Washington alike. “Bibi, you can’t fight the world,” Trump recalled telling Netanyahu, according to TIME. “You can fight individual battles, but the world’s against you.” The message was clear: if Israel’s right-wing government proceeded with annexing parts of the West Bank, it would lose all American support, despite Trump’s own history of pro-Israel policies.
This was not an idle threat. Trump’s administration, working with mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, had spent months crafting a comprehensive agreement to bring a halt to 24 months of bloodshed in Gaza. The plan, announced on October 6, 2025, demanded a ceasefire, the return of hostages, Israeli military withdrawal, and a complete disarmament of Hamas. The stakes were high, and Trump made it clear to Netanyahu that U.S. backing was contingent on Israel’s compliance. “It was a very blunt and straightforward statement to Bibi…that he has no tolerance for anything other than this,” Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told TIME.
Netanyahu, facing mounting pressure from both Washington and his own fractious coalition, ultimately agreed to the deal. The agreement’s terms included not only the release of hostages within 72 hours but also a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the opening of humanitarian aid channels. Yet, the deal’s fragility was evident from the start. As TIME reported, Hamas delayed the return of some remains of deceased Israeli hostages, leading Israel to close the Rafah crossing and restrict aid. Meanwhile, footage circulated on social media showed Hamas gunmen executing rivals, underscoring the deep challenges that remain.
For Trump, the deal was a moment of triumph. He arrived in Israel on October 21 to a hero’s welcome, with the Knesset lit up in red, white, and blue and a two-and-a-half-minute standing ovation from lawmakers. President Isaac Herzog awarded Trump Israel’s Presidential Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest civilian distinction, in recognition of his efforts to broker peace and bring hostages home. In Tel Aviv, even the beaches bore giant silhouettes of Trump’s face, a testament to the spectacle surrounding his visit.
But not everyone was celebrating. Limor Son Har-Melech, a far-right member of Israel’s parliament, boycotted Trump’s Knesset speech and denounced the Gaza deal as “shameful.” Since October 7, 2023, Har-Melech had been a vocal advocate for Israeli resettlement of Gaza, telling Netanyahu that “the only image of victory in this war is that we will see Jewish homes in Gaza.” According to The Atlantic, her outrage was shared by a radical minority within Netanyahu’s coalition, who saw Trump’s peace plan as a betrayal of their ambitions.
Polls showed that most Israelis opposed annexing Gaza, but Netanyahu’s political survival depended on appeasing this vocal right-wing fringe. For a time, it appeared that the settler movement was on the verge of achieving its goal, with nearly two dozen lawmakers urging Israel’s defense minister to permit activists into Gaza to scout possible settlement locations. Trump himself had once called to “clean out” Gaza and transform it into a “Riviera of the Middle East.” But when the prospect of annexation threatened to unravel the Abraham Accords and destabilize regional alliances, Trump intervened decisively.
On September 25, 2025, Trump publicly ruled out any Israeli extension of sovereignty over the West Bank, telling reporters in the Oval Office, “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. It’s not gonna happen.” Just four days later, he unveiled a 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war, emphasizing redevelopment for the people of Gaza and explicitly rejecting forced population transfers. “Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough,” read point No. 2. “No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return,” added point 12.
Trump’s tactics were as much about pressure as persuasion. After Israel’s controversial strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar—a move that angered the U.S. and violated the sovereignty of a key American ally—Trump used the incident as leverage to unite regional leaders behind the peace effort. “This was one of the things that brought us all together,” Trump told Time. “It was so out of joint that it sort of got everybody to do what they have to do.”
With the first phase of the agreement in place, attention quickly shifted to the challenges of implementing phase two: ensuring full Israeli withdrawal, establishing a peacekeeping force, overseeing Hamas’s disarmament, and determining postwar governance in Gaza. Trump’s administration, recognizing the fragility of the ceasefire, dispatched Vice President J.D. Vance to the region to help preserve the agreement. Yet, as TIME noted, the question of who would govern Gaza after the war remained unresolved, with Trump musing about the possible release of imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti as one potential solution.
Meanwhile, the far right in Israel was not ready to give up. Bezalel Smotrich, a powerful minister in Netanyahu’s government, declared, “There will be Jewish settlements in Gaza. We have patience, we have determination and faith, and with God’s help, we will continue the series of victories, and the big miracles.” Skirmishes continued along the ceasefire line, with two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza on October 19, prompting Israeli air strikes and renewed tensions.
Despite these obstacles, Trump remains confident in his ability to enforce the peace. “While I’m there, it’s going to only get better and stronger, and it’s going to be perfect. What happens after me? I can’t tell you that,” he told TIME. Trump’s ambitions extend beyond Gaza; he anticipates Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords by year’s end and envisions a future of expanded economic integration across the region.
As the world watches, the fate of Trump’s Middle East peace plan—and the delicate balance of power in Israel—hangs in the balance. For now, the former real estate mogul has imposed his will on a region long resistant to outside pressure, but whether this fragile peace can endure remains an open question.