U.S. President Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Monday (December 29, 2025), an Israeli official told AFP, in what is seen as a crucial visit for the next steps of the fragile Gaza truce plan.

It will be Mr. Netanyahu’s fifth visit to see key ally Mr. Trump in the United States this year.

His trip comes as the Trump administration and regional mediators push to proceed to the second stage of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli official on Saturday (December 27) said Netanyahu would leave for the U.S. on December 28 and meet with Mr. Trump a day later in Florida, without providing a specific location.

Mr. Trump told reporters in mid-December that Netanyahu would probably visit him in Florida during the Christmas holidays.

“He would like to see me. We haven’t set it up formally, but he’d like to see me,” Mr. Trump said before leaving for his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Wednesday (December 24) that a wide range of regional issues was expected to be discussed, including Iran, talks on an Israel-Syria security agreement, the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the next stages of the Gaza deal.

‘Going nowhere’

Concerning Gaza, the timing of the meeting is “very significant”, said Gershon Baskin, the co-head of peacebuilding commission the Alliance for Two States, who has taken part in back-channel negotiations with Hamas.

“Phase one is basically over, there’s one remaining Israeli deceased hostage which they (Hamas) are having difficulty finding,” he told AFP.

“Phase two has to begin, it’s even late and I think the Americans realise that it’s late because Hamas has had too much time to re-establish its presence and this is certainly not a situation that the Americans want to leave in place,” he added.

Progress in moving to the second phase of October’s Gaza ceasefire agreement, which was brokered by Washington and its regional allies, has so far been slow.

Both sides allege frequent ceasefire violations and mediators fear that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling.

Under the next stages, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) is to be deployed.

It also includes a provision for Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to lay down its weapons – a major sticking point.

On Friday (December 26), U.S. news outlet Axios reported that the meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu was key to advancing to the next steps of the deal.

Citing White House officials, Axios said that the Trump administration wanted to announce the Palestinian technocratic government for Gaza and the ISF as soon as possible.

It reported that senior Trump officials were growing exasperated “as Netanyahu has taken steps to undermine the fragile ceasefire and stall the peace process”.

“There are more and more signs that the American administration is getting frustrated with Mr. Netanyahu,” said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at London-based think-tank Chatham House.

“The question is what it’s going to do about it,” he added, “because phase two is right now going nowhere.”

Iran tops agenda

While the Trump administration is keen for progress on Gaza, analysts said the prospect of Iran rebuilding its nuclear programme and ballistic missile capabilities was likely to top the agenda for Mr. Netanyahu.

“All the news that we’ve heard in the Israeli media over the last two weeks about Iran building up its missiles and being a threat to Israel is all part of a planned strategy of deflecting attention from Gaza to the issue that Mr. Netanyahu loves to talk about which is Iran,” said Mr. Baskin.

In June, Israel launched strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas.

Iran responded with drone and missile strikes on Israel, and later on in the 12-day war, the United States joined Israel in targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.

Mr. Mekelberg shared the view that Mr. Netanyahu could be attempting to shift attention from Gaza onto Iran.

With Israel entering an election year, Mr. Mekelberg said with regards to the Trump meeting, Mr. Netanyahu would be “taking a defensive approach, to minimise what can be difficult for him coming back home”.

“Everything is connected to staying in power,” he said of the long-time Israeli premier.

Published – December 27, 2025 09:01 pm IST

U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Michael Waltz speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to consider a U.S. proposal for a U.N. mandate to establish an international stabilisation force in Gaza, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., on November 17, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi told a summit of world leaders on Monday (October 13, 2025) that U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal represents the “last chance” for peace in the region and reiterated his call for a two-state solution, saying Palestinians have the right to an independent state.

The summit in Egypt was aimed at supporting the ceasefire reached in Gaza, ending the Israel-Hamas war and developing a long-term vision to rebuild the devastated Palestinian territory.

Also read | Gaza Peace Summit LIVE

Mr. Trump’s plan holds out the possibility of a Palestinian state, but only after a lengthy transition period in Gaza and a reform process by the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes Palestinian independence.

In his speech, El-Sissi also awarded Mr. Trump the Order of the Nile, the country’s highest civilian honour.

Israel and Hamas came under pressure from the United States, Arab countries and Turkiye to agree on the ceasefire’s first phase negotiated in Qatar through mediators. The truce began on Friday.

But major questions remain over what happens next, raising the risk of a slide back into war. The gathering reflects the international will to follow through on the deal.

More than 20 world leaders attended the summit, including King Abdullah of Jordan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the French President and the British Prime Minister. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh attended the summit representing India’s PM Narendra Modi.

Israel and Hamas have no direct contacts and were not expected to attend. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not travel to the meeting because of a Jewish holiday, his office said. Mr. Trump headed to Egypt after a stop in Israel.

World leaders lined up to have their photos taken with Mr. Trump ahead of the meeting. Mr. Trump smiled and gave a thumbs-up to photographers.

Israel has rejected any role in Gaza for the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, whose leader, Mahmoud Abbas, arrived in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday before the gathering.

The summit unfolded soon after Hamas released 20 remaining living Israeli hostages and Israel started to free hundreds of Palestinians from its prisons, crucial steps under the ceasefire.

A new page

El-Sissi’s office said the summit aimed to “end the war” in Gaza and “usher in a new page of peace and regional stability” in line with Mr. Trump’s vision.

Egyptian Air Force jets escorted Trump’s Air Force One for a spin above the resort before he landed and was received by el-Sissi at the airport.

In Israel, Mr. Trump urged the country’s lawmakers to work toward peace. To the Palestinians, he said it was time to concentrate on building.

Ahead of the meeting, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said it was critical that Israel and Hamas fully implement the first phase of the ceasefire deal so that the parties, with international backing, can begin negotiations on the second phase.

Mr. Abdelatty said the success of Mr. Trump’s vision for Mideast peace will depend on his continued commitment to the process, including applying pressure on the parties and deploying military forces as part of an international contingent expected to carry out peacekeeping duties in the next phase.

“We need American engagement, even deployment on the ground, to identify the mission, task and mandate of this force,” Mr. Abdelatty told The Associated Press.

Directly tackling the remaining issues in depth is unlikely at the gathering, which is supposed to last about two hours. Mr. El-Sissi and Mr. Trump are expected to issue a joint statement after it ends.

Under the first phase, Israeli troops pulled back from some parts of Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to return home from areas they were forced to evacuate. Aid groups are preparing to bring in large quantities of aid kept out of the territory for months.

Critical challenges ahead

The next phase of the deal will have to tackle disarming Hamas, creating a post-war government for Gaza and handling the extent of Israel’s withdrawal from the territory.

Mr. Trump’s plan also stipulates that regional and international partners will work to develop the core of a new Palestinian security force.

Mr. Abdelatty said the international force needs a U.N. Security Council resolution to endorse its deployment.

He said Hamas will have no role in the transitional period in Gaza. A 15-member committee of Palestinian technocrats, with no affiliation to any Palestinian factions and vetted by Israel, will govern day to day affairs in Gaza.

The committee would receive support and supervision from a “Board of Peace” proposed by Mr. Trump to oversee the implementation of the phases of his plan, Mr. Abdelatty said.

“We are counting on Trump to keep the implementation of this plan for all its phases,” he told AP.

Another major issue is raising funds for rebuilding Gaza. The World Bank, and Egypt’s postwar plan, estimate reconstruction and recovery needs in Gaza at $53 billion. Egypt plans to host an early recovery and reconstruction conference for Gaza in November.

Roles for other countries

Turkiye, which hosted Hamas political leaders for years, played a key role in bringing about the ceasefire agreement.

Jordan, alongside Egypt, will train the new Palestinian security force.

Germany, one of Israel’s strongest international backers and top suppliers of military equipment, plans to be represented by Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He has expressed concern over Israel’s conduct of the war and its plan for a military takeover of Gaza.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who also is attending, has said he will pledge 20 million British pounds ($USD 27 million) to help provide water and sanitation for Gaza and that Britain will host a three-day conference on Gaza’s reconstruction and recovery.

Speaking in Egypt, Mr. Starmer said Britain was ready to “play its full part” in ensuring that the current ceasefire results in a lasting peace.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, European Union President António Costa and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also are attending.

Iran, a main backer of Hamas, is not attending. The Islamic Republic finds itself at one of its weakest moments since its 1979 revolution. Iranian officials have portrayed the ceasefire deal as a victory for Hamas.

The deal, however, has underlined Iran’s waning influence in the region and revived concerns over possible renewed conflict with Israel as Iran struggles to recover from the 12-day war between the two countries in June.

The venue

Sharm el-Sheikh, at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, has been host to many peace negotiations in the past decades.

The town was briefly occupied by Israel for a year in 1956. After Israel withdrew, a United Nations peacekeeping force was stationed there until 1967, when Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the peacekeepers to leave, a move that precipitated the Six-Day War that year.

Sharm el-Sheikh and the rest of the peninsula were returned to Egypt in 1982, following a 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Though it is now known more for luxury beach resorts, scuba-diving sites and desert tours, Sharm el-Sheikh has also hosted many peace summits and rounds of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians as well as other international conferences.

Monday’s gathering is the first peace summit under el-Sissi.

The sides appeared closer than they have been in months to ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, reduced much of Gaza to rubble, brought famine to parts of the territory and left dozens of hostages, living and dead, in Gaza

Israel’s Cabinet early on Friday (October 10, 2025) approved President Donald Trump’s plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of all the remaining hostages held by Hamas, a key step toward ending a ruinous two-year war that has destabilised the Middle East.

A brief statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Cabinet approved the “outline” of a deal to release the hostages, without mentioning other aspects of the plan that are more controversial.

The broader ceasefire plan included many unanswered questions, such as whether and how Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza. But the sides appeared closer than they have been in months to ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, reduced much of Gaza to rubble, brought famine to parts of the territory and left dozens of hostages, living and dead, in Gaza.

The war, which began with Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies.

Some 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas-led assault, and 251 were taken hostage. In Israel’s ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of the deaths were women and children.

In the hours leading up to the Israeli Cabinet’s vote, Israeli strikes continued. Explosions were seen on Thursday in northern Gaza, and a strike on a building in Gaza City killed at least two people and left more than 40 trapped under rubble, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.

At least 11 dead Palestinians and another 49 who were wounded arrived at hospitals over the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

An Israeli military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines said Israel was hitting targets that posed a threat to its troops as they reposition. Hamas blasted Israel over the strike, saying Netanyahu was trying to “shuffle the cards and confuse” efforts by mediators to end the war in Gaza.

A senior Hamas official and lead negotiator made a speech Thursday laying out what he says are the core elements of the ceasefire deal: Israel releasing around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, opening the border crossing with Egypt, allowing aid to flow and withdrawing from Gaza.

Khalil al-Hayya said all women and children held in Israeli jails will also be freed. He did not offer details on the extent of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Al-Hayya said the Trump administration and mediators had given assurances that the war is over, and that Hamas and other Palestinian factions will now focus on achieving self-determination and establishing a Palestinian state.

“We declare today that we have reached an agreement to end the war and the aggression against our people,” Al-Hayya said in a televised speech Thursday evening.

In other developments, US officials announced that they would send about 200 troops to Israel to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal as part of a broader, international team. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not authorized for release.

Cautious celebrations

In the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, reactions to the announcement of a ceasefire were relatively muted and often colored by grief.

“I am happy and unhappy. We have lost a lot of people and lost loved ones, friends and family. We lost our homes,” said Mohammad Al-Farra. “Despite our happiness, we cannot help but think of what is to come. … The areas we are going back to, or intending to return to, are uninhabitable.”

In Tel Aviv, families of the remaining hostages popped champagne and cried tears of joy after Trump announced the deal.

In Jerusalem on Thursday, Sharon Canot celebrated with some others.

“We are so excited this morning. We cried all morning,” she said. “It’s been two years that we are in horror.”

Under the terms, Hamas intends to release all living hostages in a matter of days, while the Israeli military will begin a withdrawal from the majority of Gaza, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of an agreement that has not been fully made public. Some 20 of the 48 hostages still in captivity are believed to be alive.

In a short video posted by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Mr. Trump was seen speaking by phone to a group of elated hostage families.

“They are all coming back on Monday,” said Trump, who is expected to visit the region in the coming days.

Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief, told reporters Thursday that officials have 170,000 metric tons of medicine, aid and other supplies at ready for transport into Gaza when they are given a green light.

How the deal will unfold

The deal, which was expected to be signed in Egypt, will include a list of prisoners to be released and maps for the first phase of an Israeli withdrawal to new positions in Gaza, according to two Egyptian officials briefed on the talks, a Hamas official and another official.

Israel will publish the list of the prisoners, and victims of their attacks will have 24 hours to lodge objections.

The withdrawal could start as soon as Thursday evening, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to be publicly named speaking about the negotiations. The hostage and prisoner releases are expected to begin Monday, the officials from Egypt and Hamas said, though the other official said they could occur as early as Sunday night.

Five border crossings would reopen, including the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the Egyptian and Hamas officials said.

The Trump plan calls for Israel to maintain an open-ended military presence inside Gaza, along its border with Israel. An international force, comprised largely of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, would be responsible for security inside Gaza. The US would lead a massive internationally funded reconstruction effort.

The plan also envisions an eventual role for the Palestinian Authority — something Netanyahu has long opposed. But it requires the authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, to undergo a sweeping reform program that could take years.

The Trump plan is even more vague about a future Palestinian state, which Mr. Netanyahu firmly rejects.

What comes next for Netanyahu

The days ahead could be politically tricky for Mr. Netanyahu, who has been shadowed by an ongoing corruption trial as he navigated the Gaza war.

His grip on power has been largely contingent on the support of hard-line, far-right coalition partners who have urged him to continue operations against Hamas until the group is eliminated.

But Mr. Trump on Thursday suggested Mr. Netanyahu’s political standing has been bolstered by the ceasefire and hostage deal.

“He’s much more popular today than he was five days ago,” Mr. Trump said. “I can tell you right now, people shouldn’t run against him. Five days ago, might not have been a bad idea.”

An Israeli soldier covers his face as he visits the site where revellers were killed and kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack by Hamas militants at the Nova music festival, near the Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, on October 6, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

The main memorial ceremony will be held in Tel Aviv and include musical performances and speeches. It’s being organized by Yonatan Shamriz, whose brother, Alon, was among three hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli forces after they escaped captivity early in the war.

Israel and Hamas discuss Trump peace plan

Israel and Hamas met on Monday in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss a new peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump. The talks were to continue Tuesday.

The war has already killed over 67,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half the dead, and many independent experts say its figures are the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

Israel’s offensive has displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of some 2 million, often multiple times, and restrictions on humanitarian aid have contributed to a severe hunger crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.

Experts and major rights groups have accused Israel of genocide, and the International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of Netanyahu and his former defense minister for using starvation as a method of war.

Israel vehemently denies the allegations, saying it is waging a lawful war of self-defense and taking extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for the death and destruction in Gaza because the militants are deeply embedded in populated areas.

Hamas portrayed the October 7 attack as a response to decades of Israeli land seizures, settlement construction and military occupation. But the attack has exacted a catastrophic toll on the Palestinians, whose dream of an independent state appears more distant than ever.

Published – October 07, 2025 09:24 am IST

Israeli soldiers ride in armoured personnel carriers (APC) near the Israeli-Gaza border as smoke rises in the Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel, on January 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

A rift within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition is emerging as a flashpoint in efforts to end the war in Gaza, threatening to derail a U.S. push to reshape the political landscape of the Middle East.

Under pressure from Donald Trump to end the two-year-old war, Mr. Netanyahu is facing a backlash from ultra-nationalist allies whose opposition to the U.S. president’s Gaza proposal could force the Israeli leader into early elections.

Netanyahu has embraced Mr. Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war, which calls for Gaza’s demilitarisation and rules out any future governing role for Hamas, though it allows its members to remain if they renounce violence and surrender their weapons.

Fear of ‘revived’ Hamas

Hamas also responded positively, partially accepting Mr. Trump’s plan, saying it was ready to negotiate the hostages’ release and would be part of a “Palestinian national framework” as Gaza’s future is addressed.

But the idea that Hamas could still exist, let alone be in a position to continue discussing the Gaza plan after hostages are released, enraged Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition partners.

“We cannot agree under any circumstances to a scenario in which the terrorist organization that brought the greatest calamity upon the State of Israel is revived,” said National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“We will in no way be partners to that,” he said in a post on X after the Sabbath, threatening to quit the government.

If far-right ministers believe Netanyahu has made too many concessions to end the war, his ruling coalition — the most right-wing government in Israel’s history — could collapse a full year before the next election, which must be held by October 2026.

But insisting on more war in Gaza would antagonise the families of hostages still held by Palestinian militants in Gaza, and could further alienate a war-weary Israeli public as well as Israel’s international allies.

Continued conflict could also extinguish Israeli hopes that more Arab and Muslim states like Saudi Arabia or Indonesia could join the Abraham Accords, a set of U.S.-backed agreements that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states.

Trump calls for halt to Israeli bombardment

Expanding the Accords has been a priority for Mr. Trump as his administration pursues its own interests in the Middle East, but Riyadh has made it clear it will not normalize with Israel until the Gaza war ends and there is a path to Palestinian statehood.

Mr. Trump has called for Israel to stop bombing Gaza in order for talks on his plan to play out, starting with indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Egypt on Monday (October 6, 2025) for the release of all remaining hostages.

But on Saturday (October 4, 2025), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that pausing attacks in Gaza was a “grave mistake”. He said that over time this would erode Israel’s position as it pursues its aims of freeing the hostages, eliminating Hamas and carrying out the demilitarisation of Gaza.

Mr. Ben-Gvir and Mr. Smotrich, whose parties hold 13 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, have long pushed Netanyahu to pursue sweeping, seemingly unattainable goals in Gaza. If both were to leave the government, it would likely trigger an election.

No ceasefire yet: Israeli government

Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told reporters on Sunday that the military had stopped what she said was certain bombings but that there was no ceasefire in place.

The military would continue to act for “defensive purposes”, she said. Despite Mr. Trump’s call to halt the bombing, Israeli strikes on Gaza over the weekend killed dozens of Palestinians.

Mr. Netanyahu has framed the plan as a joint effort that advances the government’s goals, which include Hamas’ surrender and Israeli security control in Gaza and its perimeter.

Immediate Israeli Government collapse unlikely

But Mr. Trump’s plan lacks details, including any sort of time frame for Hamas to disarm. A vague reference to Palestinian statehood is also likely to infuriate Netanyahu’s far-right allies.

Israeli pollster Mitchell Barak, who worked for Mr. Netanyahu in the 1990s, said he believed that the government was nearing its end, though he did not expect an immediate collapse given that the opposition supports the Mr. Trump plan while Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have few options other than staying aligned with Mr. Netanyahu.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered to lend the government support to prevent it from collapsing in order to see through Mr. Trump’s plan. Mr. Lapid on Sunday said Mr. Netanyahu could agree to an election date, offering “insurance” from what he called the prime minister’s “extremist and irresponsible partners.”

Published – October 06, 2025 07:24 am IST

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, 72, will play a key role in the transitional body that will govern the post-war Gaza Strip, as per U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point “Peace Plan”. Mr. Trump’s plan draws heavily from a proposal that Mr. Blair himself had developed through his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

In Mr. Blair’s version of the plan, an international body, the Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA), would govern the Gaza Strip for a certain number of years. In Mr. Trump’s proposal, Article 9 states that Gaza would be “governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee”. This Palestinian committee, however, will report to “a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace”, which will be headed and chaired by U.S. President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair.”

Also read | Trump’s Gaza peace plan: What’s in the 20-point peace proposal?

The governance structure comprising a transitional Palestinian committee and the Board of Peace is a rehash of Mr. Blair’s GITA model. Both versions envisage an administrative hierarchy with a wealthy white man (Mr. Blair/Mr. Trump) from the West helming an apex body that would “exercise supreme strategic and political authority”. Palestinian representation comes at the bottom of the managerial ladder. Its remit is restricted to the nitty-gritty of civic governance such as policing, municipal services, and vaccination programmes.

Mr. Trump’s plan also makes it clear that the “framework and funding” for the redevelopment of Gaza will be managed by the Board of Peace. As per leaked excerpts of Mr. Blair’s proposal, this Board would consist of seven to 10 members, with sizeable representation to billionaire investors, alongside Arab/Muslim faces to bestow a semblance of legitimacy.

A major criticism levelled against Mr. Trump’s Gaza plan is that Palestinians were not consulted, which is both true and unsurprising, given its provenance in Mr. Blair’s think tank. However, what has sparked outrage is the return of Mr. Blair as a “Governor” figure. British politician George Galloway posted on social media, “Once it was clear that Satan was fully occupied elsewhere, Tony Blair was the obvious choice to govern Gaza for Trump and Netanyahu.” British and American broadcaster Mehdi Hasan wrote, “Putting Tony Blair in charge of any kind of peace effort in the Middle East [West Asia] is like making the arsonist the head fire-fighter; the burglar the chief detective.” What makes Mr. Blair such a polarising figure, and why is he the chosen one to run Gaza?

Labour leader

Mr. Blair became leader of the Labour Party in 1994 following the untimely death of his predecessor, John Smith. Interestingly, he did so despite the fact that party colleague and rival Gordon Brown was seen as Smith’s natural successor. A gifted politician, Mr. Blair broke with traditional Labour politics — democratic socialism riding on support from trade unions — by following a “third way” that won over the middle classes. Named “New Labour” by analysts, he adopted a centrist, pro-market stance on the economic front, and in a sharp departure from the non-interventionism of “old Labour”, embraced an ‘interventionist’ foreign policy. The shift worked brilliantly. Mr. Blair led Labour to victory in three consecutive parliamentary elections. He became the longest-serving Labour Prime Minister in British history, holding office from 1997 to 2007. Worsening relations with Mr. Brown, however, forced him to resign in June 2007.

As Prime Minister, Mr. Blair’s biggest achievement was brokering the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of brutal sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. It was a triumph that would become his calling card — and a rather lucrative one — as an expert in conflict resolution. He also put into action the “Blair Doctrine” of “humanitarian interventionism” by sending British troops to Kosovo in 1999 and to Sierra Leone, a former British colony, in 2000. He believed that “the international community” had a right to intervene in the internal affairs of sovereign nations in order to stop human rights abuses.

Ironically, his penchant for interventionism, which won him plaudits in the context of Kosovo and Sierra Leone, would, with his cheerleading of the 2003 Iraq war, lead to his downfall and eventual status as a political pariah. The Chilcot Inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war delivered a searing indictment of Mr. Blair’s role as Prime Minister, charging him with deceiving the British people and dragging Britain into an unnecessary, illegal war on false pretexts (there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq). It also noted that Mr. Blair sent British troops to a country that posed no threats to British interests, in a move that cost the lives of 179 British citizens, besides thousands of Iraqi lives, displacing millions of Iraqis, and creating long-term instability in the region. It led many, including members of his own party, to brand him a “war criminal”.

Immediately after resigning as PM, Mr. Blair was made the “Middle East Envoy” of the Quartet — the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia. On paper, his mandate was to help build Palestinian institutions and liaise with all the stakeholders for economic development. But Mr. Blair, a trusted friend of Israel, made no visible effort to either halt the expansion of Israeli settlements or push for a two-state settlement. He failed to win the trust or respect of the Palestinians. Though he flopped as a peacemaker, his personal wealth grew rapidly, through paid consultancies with governments in the region, speaking engagements, and operating as an intermediary for billionaire businessmen.

Larry Ellison, the Zionist billionaire who is in talks to buy TikTok, is a donor to the Tony Blair Institute. Mr. Blair also became an adviser to JP Morgan Chase, a bank that, as reported by journalist Jonathan Cook, benefited massively from at least one major deal brokered by Mr. Blair in his capacity as West Asia envoy. According to Mr. Cook, Mr. Blair got Israel to open up West Bank’s airwaves for a Palestinian cellphone company. But the price negotiated by Mr. Blair is quite revealing: the Palestinians had to stop raising the issue of Israeli war crimes at the UN.

This is the “experience of the region” that Mr. Blair brings to his latest job. It is evident that this experience is viewed favourably by his most important backers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes), and Mr. Trump, who continues to aid and abet the genocide in Gaza. More than a century after one British politician inaugurated a settler colonial project in Palestine with the Balfour Declaration, Palestinians in Gaza remain mute witnesses as their fate, and their future, is delivered into the hands of another, their new viceroy.

Published – October 05, 2025 01:30 am IST