What is moving forward and what remains at a standstill in Trump’s plans for Gaza

Tel Aviv. With the Israeli elections now over, Washington is losing patience: it is pushing for the implementation of Trump’s Plan for the Gaza Strip, which Israel signed in October 2025 alongside the fragile ceasefire that has been in place ever since. Pressure from the White House began immediately after the 27 October vote, with Donald Trump reiterating to Benjamin Netanyahu over the phone – with Rubio, Kushner and Witkoff on the line – that he should move to take the plan forward. At the same time, both the Board of Peace’s envoy for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair – an adviser to the body created by Trump – visited Israel last week. Blair arrived at President Herzog’s residence last Thursday in the midst of the consultations the head of state was conducting to appoint a government. In addition to Netanyahu, Blair also met Naftali Bennett and Gadi Eisenkot, separately and before they were entrusted with the task on Sunday – a clear sign that the U.S. administration is looking towards a possible ‘day after’ the Bibi era.

In reality, there is more activity on the ground than either side has admitted, for reasons of domestic politics. This summer, the United States completed a new base on Israeli soil, close to the Kerem Shalom crossing. It is called ‘LSA Endurance’ and is intended to host the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), which, in accordance with UN Resolution 2803 of November 2025, would be tasked with the arduous task of disarming Hamas and other Palestinian armed militias. In recent months, Israel had approved the arrival of the first troops – from Uganda and Morocco – who, although they came to inspect the area alongside delegations from other potential countries, such as Albania, were never deployed. The base is currently manned by American troops. Yshai Sfez, from the moshav of Yeted, adjacent to the base, is the most attentive observer of movements on the ground. Speaking to Il Foglio, he explains that every day, equipment and bulldozers enter via the crossing for the work underway in what is known as ‘Green Rafah’ – a term long adopted by the other logistics centre operating under the auspices of the Board of Peace, the International Gaza Support Centre, based in Kiryat Gat, in central Israel.

The area of the Gaza Strip still under IDF control – at least 60 per cent of the territory – is referred to as ‘Green’. The pilot project in Rafah has been in the works for months. Sfez, which extensively documents every move close to the border, has released videos showing five new cement factories built within the Strip. It reports that an Israeli company, YR, has won a tender issued by the Board of Peace for the first phase of reconstruction, presented to the UN General Assembly in September: a six-month programme worth $2.45 billion comprising 66 projects, including rubble clearance, temporary accommodation and the sealing of tunnels. Yesterday the news also appeared on Channel 12, with the Board of Peace confirming to the broadcaster that it had begun work on one of the most complicated projects – namely, the filling in of sections of the kilometre-long network of underground tunnels – after IDF military engineering units had completed their clearance operations.

Following Monday’s rebuke by the Board of Peace – which condemned both Israel and Hamas for the deadlock over the plan and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza as winter approaches – Netanyahu’s office issued a statement yesterday “confirming its commitment to the success of President Trump’s 20-point plan”. However, it reiterates that the sequence of events has been determined by the body itself: “First, the disarmament of Hamas; then, reconstruction”. This is also the position of Sfez and its “Otef Forum”, which represents residents in the area adjacent to the Strip – the area attacked during the massacre of 7 October. They oppose the entry of the Palestinian Technocrats’ Committee (NCAG), led by Ali Shaath, which is still based in Cairo, even though, in practice, lower-ranking officials enter via the Rafah crossing – and thus from Egypt – every day to monitor the progress of the pilot project. The official entry of the NCAG is one of the priority measures on which the Board is seeking flexibility from Jerusalem.

Netanyahu is trying to drag his feet until it becomes clear whether the country will head for new elections, in light of the predictable deadlock that has emerged from the polls. Or, until the joint war against Iran resumes. “Gaza in exchange for Iran” (and Gaza in exchange for further normalisation) is the equation underpinning the doctrine of the current – now interim – prime minister, as also confirmed in Sfez by a minister visiting the area. The envoy, Gadi Eisenkot, spoke of “18 months to secure Gaza without Hamas: either through the Trump plan, or by force”. In the meantime, the only certainty is that the stalemate within the stalemate continues.