Official White House Photo / Joyce Boghosian / Public domain
President Donald Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take steps to implement his Gaza peace plan during a Thursday phone call, according to an Axios report citing two sources with knowledge of the discussion. The reported push would put disarmament, civilian governance and reconstruction back on the agenda after Israel’s election.
The account describes Washington pressing for movement regardless of who forms Israel’s next government, with cooperation from Israel and Hamas still central to carrying out the plan.
Axios reported Sunday that Netanyahu initiated the call and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff also participated. One source described it as constructive and said the conversation also covered Iran. Axios said the White House and the Israeli prime minister’s office had not immediately responded to its requests for comment.
Disarmament before reconstruction
The reported discussion concerns a roadmap calling for Hamas to disarm, Gaza to be demilitarized and governing responsibilities to pass to a Palestinian technocratic administration. Axios said implementation had been held up for months around Israel’s October 27 election.
A U.S. official quoted in the report said the process would be gradual and reconstruction would begin only after progress in disarming Hamas had been verified. The report described a six-month, $2.45 billion initial recovery proposal covering 66 projects.
That condition ties the economic work to the security decisions: the reported proposal would not move from planning into reconstruction simply because the leaders spoke. Cooperation and verified disarmament would determine when recovery work could begin.
A framework for government and rebuilding
In its January 16 statement on the peace framework, the White House described restoring core public services, rebuilding civil institutions and supporting Gaza’s transition from conflict to development. It assigned the Board of Peace oversight and international resource-mobilization responsibilities, and described an International Stabilization Force tasked with security, demilitarization and enabling safe delivery of aid and reconstruction materials.
Axios reported that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a member of the Board of Peace, visited Israel Friday and met Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot, who has been tasked with trying to form a new government. A source said Blair urged Israeli political leaders to give the plan a chance.
“We want to move forward collaboratively and we need full cooperation and partnership from the Israeli government,” the U.S. official told Axios.
The central question in the reported push is whether renewed political pressure can produce the security cooperation needed for civilian government and reconstruction to take hold. The call described by the sources is a step toward that work, not an announced implementation agreement.
Archive photograph: Trump and Netanyahu at a September 29, 2025 press conference, not this week’s call.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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