Paris (Imran Y. CHOUDHRY) :- Former Press Secretary to the President, Former Press Minister to the Embassy of Pakistan to France, Former MD, SRBC Mr. Qamar Bashir analysis : The Gaza peace plan, unveiled by President Donald Trump in September 2025 and later endorsed by the United Nations through Security Council Resolution 2803, was hailed as the most ambitious attempt yet to end the cycle of devastation in the Strip. It promised a structured ceasefire, a phased Israeli withdrawal, the release of hostages, the demilitarization of Gaza, and the creation of a transitional governing body capable of stabilizing the enclave after one of the deadliest wars in its modern history. For a moment, it appeared the international community had finally constructed a serious pathway toward peace.
Yet, as of 2 December 2025, the plan is facing its gravest crisis. Both major actors—Israel and Hamas—have violated core commitments, raising deep concerns that the fragile framework could unravel. The UN-mandated International Stabilization Force (ISF), meant to secure Gaza during the transition, has yet to take shape because governments are reluctant to contribute troops. And the Board of Peace, the body authorized to govern Gaza during the transitional phase, is struggling to form, weighed down by political tensions, regional mistrust, and operational uncertainty. The promise of stability is buckling under the pressure of reality.
The peace plan began with a hopeful breakthrough. After months of war, a ceasefire took effect on 10 October. Hamas released several of the remaining living hostages, while Israel freed groups of Palestinian detainees. Humanitarian aid began flowing into Gaza more steadily, offering a lifeline to a population battered by bombardment, displacement, hunger, and disease. The ceasefire was imperfect but held long enough to persuade the United Nations Security Council to endorse Trump’s 20-point plan in a rare consensus vote. Resolution 2803 gave the plan legal standing, international legitimacy, and a mandate for intervention.
But optimistic diplomacy has collided with deteriorating conditions on the ground. Despite the agreement, both Israel and Hamas have continued actions that violate core pillars of the plan. Israel has carried out repeated airstrikes in Gaza, claiming to target “remaining Hamas infrastructure,” but killing civilians in the process and stoking resentment among the very population the peace plan aims to stabilize. Even more alarming are recent Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank, particularly around Tubas and Tammun, which many diplomats warn could destabilize the entire ceasefire architecture. These operations—completely outside Gaza—signal that Israel continues to act with near-total impunity, unconstrained by the spirit of de-escalation the plan requires.
At the heart of the plan is the commitment by Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza in agreed phases. This has not happened. Israel argues that Hamas remains armed, entrenched, and capable of renewed attacks. Without full demilitarization—another part of the agreement—Israel insists it cannot risk a full withdrawal. Critics counter that Israel is using security concerns as justification for indefinite control, effectively hollowing out the plan’s political foundation. The United Nations has repeatedly urged Israel to comply with withdrawal commitments, but those calls have gone unheeded.
Hamas, for its part, has accepted the ceasefire but rejected the plan’s requirement for complete disarmament. While it has cooperated on prisoner exchanges and the return of some remains of deceased hostages, it refuses to surrender its weapons or submit to what it calls “foreign guardianship” of Gaza.
Caught between these violations is the United Nations, tasked with constructing the International Stabilization Force (ISF) that would take over security responsibilities as Israel withdraws. But weeks after Resolution 2803 passed, not a single major country has committed significant combat troops. Many governments express support for the idea in principle but fear the political and operational risks involved. Participating in the ISF means deploying soldiers into a volatile war zone where they could face attacks from militant groups opposed to foreign presence, hostility from parts of the population traumatized by war, and unpredictability from Israeli forces still conducting operations in and around Gaza.
Arab and Muslim-majority states—initially mentioned as potential contributors—have pulled back, wary of being perceived as legitimizing an arrangement that could be interpreted as internationalizing or fragmenting Palestinian territory. Turkey has been excluded by Israel from the ISF, despite offering involvement. Egypt, perhaps the most natural candidate to lead the force, has remained cautious, demanding clear rules of engagement and guarantees that it would not be forced into direct conflict with any Palestinian faction. Even Western nations, including close U.S. allies, fear getting drawn into a long and politically costly mission.
The ISF was meant to be the backbone of the peace plan. Without it, the entire architecture collapses: Israel refuses to withdraw without a credible stabilizing force; Hamas refuses to demilitarize under Israeli guns; and the United Nations cannot supervise reconstruction or transitional governance without secure conditions.
A similar paralysis haunts the Board of Peace—the temporary governing authority endorsed by the UN. It is intended to administer Gaza, manage aid distribution, coordinate reconstruction, and oversee the transition toward self-governance. President Trump is designated as the chair of this board, a unique arrangement that places a former U.S. president at the helm of an international civilian authority. But the Board has struggled to form. Key member states argue over representation, mandates, and mechanisms of accountability. Palestinians fear that the Board could become a substitute for sovereignty. Israel doubts it will be strong enough to prevent Hamas from re-emerging politically or militarily. Many countries remain uncertain whether Trump’s political involvement will provide anchor or instability, given U.S. domestic polarization and the global controversies surrounding his leadership style.
The failure to assemble the Board of Peace quickly has immediate consequences: without it, Gaza’s civil administration remains fragmented and under strain; aid agencies cannot fully coordinate reconstruction; and there is no credible neutral actor to mediate compliance between the two sides.
The cumulative effect of these failures is bleak. The peace plan is neither dead nor alive—it is suspended in a fragile limbo. Every violation, from rocket fire to airstrikes, chips away at the credibility of the agreement. Every delay in ISF formation erodes confidence in global commitments. Every political dispute over the Board of Peace deepens the vacuum of authority on the ground.
If both Hamas and Israel continue to treat the ceasefire as flexible rather than binding, the peace plan risks collapsing entirely. Diplomats warn that once trust is lost, even the most meticulously crafted architecture becomes unworkable. The success of Trump’s Gaza plan requires more than signatures on a resolution—it demands sustained restraint, credible enforcement, and international political will. For now, all three remain dangerously weak.
Whether this plan becomes a turning point or another addition to the long archive of broken peace proposals will depend entirely on whether both sides—and the world—choose to honor their commitments. At this moment, Gaza stands at the edge of both possibility and peril. The next few weeks may determine which path prevails.

US President Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, returned to Israel on Monday, as mediators face a new obstacle in their efforts to advance negotiations on the fragile Gaza ceasefire deal to the next and more complex phase.

Key sticking points remain unresolved, including Hamas’s disarmament, the reconstruction and future governance of Gaza, and the deployment of an international security force to the territory.

Without a timeline for the discussions, which are likely to require significant concessions from both Israel and Hamas, there are doubts that any progress can be achieved.

Another challenge has emerged recently, involving scores of Hamas fighters believed to be in tunnels beneath the southern city of Rafah behind the so-called “Yellow Line”, which marks the area under Israeli control.

Last week, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said an amnesty could be offered for fighters who laid down their arms, and that this could be a “model” for what Washington hoped to apply in the rest of Gaza.

Witkoff said 200 fighters were trapped, although this number has not been confirmed.

According to media reports, Kushner and the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, discussed the issue during a meeting in Jerusalem on Monday.

Hamas has previously said the fighters will not surrender and demanded that they are given safe passage, which has so far been rejected by Israel.

An Israeli government spokeswoman said Netanyahu and Kushner had “discussed phase one, which we are currently still in, to bring our remaining hostages, and the future of phase two of this plan, which includes the disarming of Hamas, demilitarising Gaza, and ensuring Hamas will have no role in the future of Gaza ever again”.

The war in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Since then, more than 69,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable.

The first phase of the ceasefire, which came into force last month, focused on halting the war, returning all hostages, and securing a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Twenty living hostages and the remains of 24 deceased captives have been released, with four bodies remaining in Gaza.

In return, Israel has freed 250 Palestinian prisoners from its jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza who were being held without charge or trial. It has also handed over the remains of 315 Palestinians from Gaza.

Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the truce, with Israel saying Hamas has deliberately delayed the return of the remains of hostages and Hamas saying that Israel has killed at least 240 Palestinians and is restricting the entry of aid supplies.

Hamas has previously rejected disarmament, saying it would only do so once a Palestinian state has been established. Israel refuses any involvement in the governance of Gaza by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which is the body that governs parts of the occupied West Bank. Countries are reluctant to commit troops to the multinational force without clear goals, concerned that their soldiers might end up confronting fighters from Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

The Israeli military currently occupies 53% of Gaza’s territory and is expected to withdraw further in the next stage of the plan.

With no indication of imminent advances in the negotiations, a de-facto partition of Gaza between the area controlled by Israel and another ruled by Hamas was increasingly likely, sources told the Reuters news agency, with talks about reconstruction apparently likely to be limited to the Israel-controlled territory.

Arab countries have already expressed concerns that the current separation could become a permanent partition of Gaza.

The Trump plan does not include a pathway to Palestinian statehood – a concept which Israel rejects.

The Israeli military says it has identified a body handed over from Gaza as that of Israeli-Argentinian Lior Rudaeff.

The 61-year-old was killed while attempting to defend Nir Yitzhak kibbutz during the Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 and his body was taken to Gaza by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group, the military said.

PIJ said the body was found on Friday in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Hamas has now returned all 20 living hostages and 23 out of 28 deceased hostages under the first phase of a ceasefire deal that started on 10 October. Four of the five dead hostages still in Gaza are Israelis and one is Thai.

Israel has criticised Hamas for not yet returning all the bodies. Hamas says it is hard to find them under rubble.

PIJ is an armed group allied with Hamas. It took part in the 7 October attack and previously held some Israeli hostages.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a campaign group, welcomed the return.

“Lior’s return provides some measure of comfort to a family that has lived with agonising uncertainty and doubt for over two years,” it said in a statement. “We will not rest until the last hostage is brought home.”

During the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, Israel freed 250 Palestinian prisoners in its jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Israel has also handed over the bodies of 300 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the 20 Israeli hostages returned by Hamas, along with those of three foreign hostages – one of them Thai, one Nepalese and one Tanzanian.

The parties also agreed to an increase of aid to the Gaza Strip, a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces, and a halt to fighting, although violence has flared up as both sides accused one another of breaching the deal.

Israel launched air strikes after accusing Hamas fighters of killing two of its soldiers on 19 October and of killing another soldier on 28 October. Hamas said it was unaware of clashes in the area of the first incident and had no connection to the second attack.

Israeli military actions have killed at least 241 people since the start of the ceasefire, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage. All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were abducted in the attack.

At least 69,169 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, the health ministry reported.