What Palestinians think of Trump’s proposed ceasefire plan

A day after U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington and presented a ceasefire plan, people in Gaza are responding. 

The 20-point plan includes the immediate release of all hostages living and dead and the disarmament of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also calls for the strip to be governed by a temporary international body led by former British prime minister and Middle East envoy Tony Blair. On Tuesday, Reuters said Trump gave Hamas three to four days to accept the plan. 

CBC News videographer Mohamed El Saife talked to Gazans in Deir al Balah about their views on the proposal. After two years of war, they told him they want to see an end to the conflict and a change in government. But they also expressed a range of views about the latest ceasefire deal. 

While some were cautiously optimistic about Blair’s involvement, others were doubtful the plan would lead to a Palestinian state that would take them and their needs into consideration and also questioned the intentions of those who drafted the deal.  

Here is some of what they had to say. 

On Hamas’s role in governing

Support for Hamas seems to have dwindled after almost two full years of war. Today, Nabil Al-Hissi said he’d rather see anyone other than Hamas govern Gaza.  

“We call on the governments of the world to erase this movement,” he said. “This is a corrupt movement, since the day they came to Earth, they are corrupt.” 

He says he feels the only way a Palestinian state can exist is if Hamas is eradicated from the enclave.

WATCH | Palestinians in Gaza explain how they feel about Hamas:

Hamas ‘is a corrupt movement,’ says Palestinian

Some Palestinians who spoke to CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife say the future of Gaza must not include Hamas, calling it a ‘corrupt movement’ and a ‘terrorist organization.’

He believes Hamas has become ingrained in the fabric of Palestinian society and must be erased by foreign powers for the sake of the people of Gaza. 

“This is a terrorist organization not an islamic one,” he said. 

Gamal Al-Barai agrees and says Hamas is over as a movement.

“Hamas is not the Palestinian people,” he said. “Our struggle is not Hamas’s struggle.” 

He blames “the machine” that is Hamas for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, saying that Palestinians in Gaza have been paying the price for the last two years for what Hamas did that day. 

On Tony Blair’s role

Blair’s potential foray into the Middle East is not new to the former U.K. leader. 

Soon after he stepped down as prime minister in 2007, he was appointed as the international community’s envoy to the region. He spent eight years working to build Palestinian institutions and promote economic development, and left the role in 2015. 

The latest U.S. plan proposes that Gaza would be under international control and both its reconstruction and Board of Peace administration would be overseen by Trump and Blair. 

WATCH | Palestinians share their thoughts about Tony Blair:

Palestinians express hope, hesitance about Tony Blair’s potential role in Gaza peace plan

A U.S.-sponsored 20-point peace plan for Gaza calls for the strip to be governed by a temporary international body led by former British PM Tony Blair, who spent eight years as an envoy to the region. In Deir Al-Balah, Palestinians had a divided response to news of Blair’s potential involvement.

While Blair has some experience in the Middle East, for some in Gaza, his reputation precedes him. 

Al-Barai is hesitant to celebrate Blair’s involvement. He feels like the promise in the peace plan that land in Gaza would eventually be returned to Palestinians is unlikely and doubts that Trump and Blair will actually help Palestinians. 

“They won’t give the Palestinian people anything,” he said. “[Not] even a bag of flour. They starved us in the Gaza Strip.” 

Al-Barai believes this deal merely provides Israel with more rockets, tanks and planes to “butcher Palestinians” under the guise of wanting peace in the region. He says he feels the negotiations are all “imaginary” and doubts Trump’s claims that he will rebuild the Gaza Strip to give it back to Palestinians.

“This is a lie,” he said, adding he’s lost faith in negotiating as a tactic. 

“What was taken by force will only be returned by force,” he said. “The negotiating table is cursed for Palestinians.” 

There are also concerns about how much aid is getting into the enclave, and with trucks stalled at the border, people like Al-Hissi have had to rely on luck and community distributions for food, water and medicine. He says he’s been displaced many times throughout the war. 

But he called Blair a “good man” and says he believes the former Middle East envoy will bring peace to the region. 

“If he takes control of Gaza, we will succeed in peace and he will bring us food, water and medicine,” Al-Hissi said. 

WATCH | Gazans share how they feel about Trump’s ceasefire proposal:

Mixed reactions to Trump’s ceasefire plan in Gaza

Palestinians in Gaza react to the latest ceasefire proposal from the White House, with several people expressing concern that, if implemented, it would put the future of Gaza at risk.

On what a Palestinian state might look like

Wissam Afifa says he’s skeptical of the plan as a whole and wonders how it will benefit Palestinians on the ground who just want to live normal lives. 

Instead, Afifa sees the deal as Netanyahu’s way out of international isolation. 

Last week, countries including Canada, France and the United Kingdom came together to recognize the state of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly. The move infuriated Netanyahu, who called it a “disgraceful” decision in a speech at the UN General Assembly. 

But earlier this month, Netanyahu warned that Israel is facing increasing isolation over the war it has waged in Gaza. 

Afifa says the peace plan supports much of what Israel wants but does not take into consideration what Palestinians desire when it comes to the imagined future of Gaza. 

“Even at this stage, the Arabs and Muslims are not present, because sadly this is an agreement by Tony Blair and Jared Kushner,” he said, referring to reports that Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had been working with Blair on a proposal for ending the Gaza war and replacing Hamas.

Though he says he agrees Hamas should not form the future government, Afifa says he has “no trust” in Blair standing with Palestinians.

He says those involved with crafting the 20-point plan can’t be trusted and called on them to include Arab and Muslim countries so they can ensure Palestinian needs will be met in whatever form the future of the Gaza Strip takes. 

WATCH | Palestinians worry they aren’t represented in U.S.-backed peace plan for Gaza: 

Palestinians question whether they have enough say in Trump’s Netanyahu-backed Gaza plan

International leaders are backing U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point proposal to end the war in Gaza. But while some Israelis and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree with the deal, Palestinians in Gaza say this proposal ‘ends the Palestinian cause.’