USA declares start of phase 2 of the peace plan

US special envoy Steve Witkoff has declared that phase 2 of the 20-point peace plan for Gaza has begun. The plan was presented by President Donald Trump at the end of September 2025. Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas officially declared their agreement a few days later. The implementation of phase 1 then began. This consisted of a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops in Gaza behind an agreed ceasefire line (“yellow line”), improved conditions for aid transports to the war zone and the return of all 20 living and 28 dead hostages who had been kidnapped from Israel by Hamas terrorists in the massacre on October 7, 2023.

Although one of the hostages killed is still in Gaza, the implementation of phase 2 of the plan has now begun. It provides for the establishment of a so-called International Stabilization Force, the disarmament of Hamas, the demilitarization of Gaza and the establishment of a civil administration made up of Palestinians to oversee the reconstruction of the coastal strip, which has been largely devastated by the two-year war unleashed by Hamas. This will take place under the supervision of an international peace council led by President Trump. The US President is expected to announce the composition of the council next week during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

The composition of the highest civil authority for Gaza, consisting of 15 technocrats, was announced yesterday in Cairo. Originally there had been talk of 12 members, four of whom had been rejected by Israel. These differences have now apparently been resolved. The former UN Special Representative for the Middle East, the Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, played an important role in this. He enjoys a good reputation both on the Arab-Palestinian side and in Israel. Egypt was responsible for nominating the committee members.

The committee will be chaired by 67-year-old Ali Shaath, a Gaza-born former Deputy Minister of Planning, Transportation and International Relations of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA is responsible for the administration of the West Bank. The PA itself will not be represented on the management committee, after Israel vetoed such participation from the outset. In an initial interview, Shaath explained that he sees the task of the committee he heads “not in rebuilding, but in rebuilding Gaza”. In doing so, he expressed the intention of transporting the enormous piles of rubble from the buildings destroyed in the war into the sea in order to create new building land.

It is still unclear what the situation is regarding the disarmament of Hamas, which is also part of the second phase of the peace plan. According to reports from Egyptian, Turkish and Qatari circles, the terrorist organization is prepared to hand over its heavy weapons aimed at Israel. A buy-back program for light weapons such as rifles would then be launched. Hamas itself had previously always stated that it would only agree to disarmament once the establishment of a Palestinian state had been secured. This is indeed the long-term goal of the US peace plan presented last year. However, even if phase 2 of the plan progresses as planned, it is still a long way off.