Gaza plan rejected by Netanyahu ‘only way forward’: Trump board

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The US-backed plan for Gaza rejected on Sunday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains the “only way forward” to prevent a repeat of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, the head of President Donald Trump’s implementation board said.

“The option we are offering today is the only way forward that ensures this tragedy does not happen again,” Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 television.

He said that further talks were underway and, “I hope these discussions will lead to a positive outcome for everyone.”

Netanyahu earlier told his cabinet that he rejected the plan, under which Hamas would hand over weapons to a nascent Palestinian governing body and Israel would start a withdrawal from the war-ravaged territory.