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Trump brokers peace: Hostages freed and guns fall silent in Gaza
A landmark moment in the Middle East: All 20 remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas have been released, and a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas has been signed—brokered by President Trump.
Ian Bremmer calls it “a big win” for the president. “He had leverage, and he used it,” Ian says. “It’s much better to say your president succeeded than failed—and this is a success.”
The deal, backed by Egypt, Turkey, and Gulf states, halts two years of fighting. But as Ian notes, “lasting peace will depend on reconstruction, governance, and whether both sides can hold to their word.”
A drone view of families of hostages and their supporters protesting ahead of the two-year anniversary of the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, demanding the immediate release of all hostages and the end of the war in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 4, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Israelis want war to end, “Czech Trump” wins elections, China-India flights resume, The Free Press goes mainstream
35: Billionaire populist Andrej Babiš, often called “the Czech Trump” won the Czech Republic’s election, taking 35% of the vote. Babiš, who was PM from 2017-2021, is expected to form a government with two smaller ultra-euroskeptic parties, raising concern about whether Prague’s staunch support for Ukraine will continue. See our recent piece on Babiš here.
5: Direct flights between China and India will resume for the first time in five years, as the two billion-strong Asian powers continue to thaw their relationship. Flights were suspended in 2020 after a long-simmering border clash in the Himalayas erupted into open conflict. The move comes as India, long a partner of the US, looks for new allies in the wake of Donald Trump’s massive new tariffs and visa restrictions.
150 million: US media giant Paramount, which owns CBS, has officially purchased the upstart opinion and investigative journalism website The Free Press for $150 million. As part of the deal, Free Press founder Bari Weiss will be installed as editor-in-chief of CBS News.
Spiritual counsel from Czech writer Ivan Klíma, who died at 94 on Saturday. Klíma, who survived a Nazi concentration camp as a child and later insisted on remaining in communist Czechoslovakia to publish clandestinely rather than flee into exile, was one of the 20th century’s greatest critics of totalitarianism. Čest jeho památce 🕊️
Palestinians inspect the destruction after Israeli airstrike hit Bank of Palestine in Gaza Strip Palestinians inspect the destruction after Israeli airstrike hit Bank of Palestine in Gaza Strip on September 24, 2025.
- IMAGO/APAimages via Reuters Connect
After peace, what next for Gaza?
Negotiations are ongoing to end the war in Gaza, with US President Donald Trump urging parties to “move fast” to reach a deal. But that outcome hinges on what comes next: how will Gaza be governed once the conflict ceases? Trump’s 20-point plan proposes to install a technocratic Palestinian authority with no involvement from Hamas, supervised by an international “Board of Peace.” What might this look like in practice, what can history teach us about its possible outcome, and will Hamas accept those terms?
Technocrats and trusteeship
Hamas had already agreed to"a national independent administration of technocrats" in September. Such a regime would be run by non-partisan experts chosen for their competence in various fields, such as infrastructure and financial management, to make and implement policy on a pragmatic, evidence-based basis.
But Hamas has not signed onto Trump’s proposed international supervisory board composed of himself as chair, together with notable public figures such as former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. The board has been described as an “elite managed trusteeship.” Trump stated that it could entertain “many thoughtful investment proposals and exciting development ideas…crafted by well-meaning international groups.” The proposal sets neither a timeframe nor a path to self rule.
A trip back in time?
Comparisons are already being made to colonial structures imposed by European powers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Starting in 1820, the British controlled much of the region around the Persian Gulf and Red Sea through protectorates, treaty arrangements which saw London handle foreign policy and defense while local potentates ran domestic affairs. The goal was not nation-building, but commerce, to secure shipping lanes east of Suez to India.
That structure changed after WWI, when the League of Nations created the mandate system, supposedly to prepare former colonies for independence, including the British Mandate for Palestine in 1922. But from the start, the mandate suffered from a legitimacy problem: rule without full sovereignty. This “supervision, not control,” as the League framed it, bred resentment and resistance in the form of the Arab Liberation Army. The mandate ended in the Arab-Israeli war, partition, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
What could this mean for the Board of Peace?
Some critics have decried Trump’s plan as imperialism and a means of commercial gain for the US. The involvement of Blair has also raised eyebrows: Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, commented, “We’ve been under British colonialism already.”
But the plan has support from the governments of Qatar, Jordan, UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The plan is also backed by European powers including Spain, Germany, and the UK and France, who recently recognized the State of Palestine, as well as Canada.
Engaging Middle Eastern powers to fund or staff the technocratic authority could mitigate the perception of western colonialism, but without a timetable for sovereignty could also mire regional governments in long-term management of the territory.
Is oversight necessary?
Apart from the terms of the Board of Peace, is any board required at all? Transitional governments can take many forms: Syria is currently transitioning to democracy after decades of dictatorship, starting with votes by an electoral college, but without any foreign oversight. Other nations, like East Timor, successfully transitioned from a colonial regime to self-rule in the early 2000s after a period of oversight organized by the United Nations - but remain dependent on foreign aid for infrastructure building.
Will Hamas ever accept oversight?
Hamas has accepted three points of Trump’s plan: releasing all hostages, surrendering power, and Israel withdrawing troops from Gaza. But it has so far rejected disarmament and Trump’s international board. It remains to be seen whether these are up for negotiation - or deal breakers.
US President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on September 29, 2025.
What We’re Watching: Netanyahu and Trump talk Gaza, Europe nabs a win out east, Peru faces “Gen Z” revolt
Bibi pays yet another visit to the White House
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US President Donald Trump at the White House today to discuss postwar Gaza. The Trump administration proposed a plan last week involving a coalition of Arab and Muslim-majority nations overseeing a Palestinian committee’s governance of the strip, as well as the release of the remaining hostages from Gaza. Trump hinted on Sunday that a deal to end the war was close, while Bibi said of the White House proposal that he hoped Israel could “make it a go.” With Trump and those around him growing increasingly impatient with Netanyahu, will there finally be a breakthrough?
Europe gets a win the East
Moldova’s pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity, led by President Maia Sandu, won a narrow parliamentary majority despite alleged Russian efforts to sway the vote towards a Kremlin-friendly opposition party. Opposition protests followed the vote, but European Union leaders welcomed the result, which strengthens Moldova’s bid to join the EU and rebuffs pro-Russian parties that campaigned on anger about high gas prices and fears of wider war and conflict with Russia stemming from Western backing for Ukraine. The election – seen as a referendum on Europe versus Russia – drew global attention to the tiny country due to its strategic position between Romania and Ukraine.
Peru is the latest subject of “Gen Z” protests
Following on from Southeast Asia, South America became the latest continent to experience recent “Gen Z” revolts, as protests erupted in Lima, the Peruvian capital, against President Dina Boluarte. Demonstrators clashed with police, and roughly a dozen were injured. The spark was the government’s move to require everyone over 18 to join a pension provider, which many oppose because it places extra financial burdens on young people when they already face economic insecurity. But tensions have been simmering in the country of 34 million people over corruption scandals, rising crime, and a lack of accountability after Boluarte’s security forces killed protestors in 2022-2023. Boluarte’s approval rating lies at just 3%. The country is scheduled to have elections next year.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a high-level meeting to mark the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations at the UN headquarters in New York City, USA, on September 22, 2025.
The only thing moving slower than Midtown traffic this week? Diplomacy.
If you live in New York City, you are well aware of what is about to descend upon our already crowded streets: the United Nations General Assembly. This is any NYC driver’s least favorite week of the year, particularly if anywhere near Midtown East.
First, some pro tips for navigating UNGA. Happen to be here for the festivities? Our apologies. Before we dive into the chaos within the event itself, let’s confront the mess outside. Do not attempt to drive. Take the subway, or simply walk. Your blood pressure will thank you later.
If you want to do some UN-style people watching, check out Remi43, a combination flower shop and coffee bar on 2nd Avenue where you’re likely to see UN staffers and national delegates imbibing some java and losing themselves in conversation.
Need to chill out for a minute? Grab a bench in Tudor City Park and watch the squad cars and black SUVs whiz by.
While you wait for a train going anywhere better than the jungle of Midtown, grab a cocktail and a cup of clam chowder at the Grand Central Oyster Bar. Tell them GZERO sent you.
OK, now to the real business of the week. World leaders gather against a backdrop of wars that refuse to end, and institutions struggling to keep up. The conflict in Ukraine is grinding through its fourth year with no clear off-ramp. Sudan’s ongoing civil war has displaced millions, and created an ever-growing humanitarian crisis. In Gaza, violence and destruction continue to cascade, fueling divisions about how far the UN can – or should – go in trying to intervene.
On that last point, today Palestinian statehood is front and center as Saudi Arabia and France gather member states in a dialogue sure to rattle some in both the US and Israel. A group of Western nations formally recognized Palestinian statehood in unison on Sunday, aiming to build momentum in this effort.
US President Donald Trump will speak on Tuesday during the General Debate, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who recently declared calls for a two-state solution an “absurd prize for terrorism,” speaks Friday. Expect both to make headlines and raise the temperature.
This week is also a referendum on the UN itself. The UN is celebrating a milestone: 80 years since its founding. However, no one is popping champagne at this birthday party. Secretary-General António Guterres has launched the “UN80” reform initiative, a push to streamline operations, make the system less bloated, and confront the reality that the institution is teetering on a financial cliff. Chronic underfunding, late payments and reduced voluntary spending from big members, and ever-expanding mandates mean the UN is being asked to do more with less at precisely the moment global crises are multiplying.
Familiar topics, but fraught conversations. The themes running through this week’s speeches and side meetings will feel all too familiar: how to rebuild trust in multilateralism, whether the Security Council can remain relevant when the great powers that dominate it are themselves locked in confrontation, and whether emerging economies – especially in Africa, Asia, and Latin America – can get a bigger say in shaping the rules.
For all the heady rhetoric, expect plenty of realpolitik. Leaders will use the stage to posture, call out rivals, and test new alliances. Still, in a year when “cooperation” feels like a rare commodity, even modest commitments – on aid, climate, or humanitarian relief – will be hailed as progress.
So, lace up your sneakers, pack all your patience, and prepare for a week where New York traffic might be unbearable, but the geopolitics promise to be a show in themselves.
GZERO will be on the ground (walking, of course) to bring you all the biggest developments of the week.
If you want to learn more about this year’s UNGA, In the latest episode of GZERO World, Ian Bremmer sat down with the secretary-general in the latest episode of GZERO World to discuss the state of the UN, a new report which declared Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, and the future of multilateralism is an increasingly fractured and fragmented geopolitical landscape. Watch the full conversation here.
And for more on the details of UN80, and what it means for the daily operations of the octogenarian organization, here’s GZERO’s interview with Under-Secretary-General Guy Ryder, the man tasked with leading the ambitious reform initiative.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir walk inside the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem March 27, 2025.
Netanyahu’s coalition is crumbling
Israel’s ruling coalition is facing its most serious crisis yet. Two of the country’s ultra-Orthodox parties — United Torah Judaism and Shas — announced they are quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over proposed changes to long-standing rules that exempt ultra-Orthodox students from Israel’s military draft. The split is likely to collapse the coalition. The centrist opposition Yesh Atid party has already filed a motion to dissolve the Knesset, Israel’s legislature. A vote on that, set for June 11, is likely to succeed, triggering a general election by November.
The withdrawal of the two parties came in response to a bill introduced by a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party that would curtail military exemptions. The ultra-Orthodox community has largely been exempted from military service since Israel’s founding, but that arrangement is under growing strain as the Gaza war stretches Israel’s manpower, forcing repeated reserve call-ups that have generated increasing public anger at this exemption.
“This issue — ultra-Orthodox conscription — is part of a divide that’s governed Israel for 70 years. It’s not new, but it’s symbolic of the larger cultural war,” says Middle East Institute Scholar Dr. Ilan Peleg.
But this was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Netanyahu’s coalition has been becoming increasingly fractured as polarization and government dissatisfaction has risen in the country. The prime minister is personally motivated to remain in charge to preserve his legal immunity amid ongoing corruption trials. To do so, he has relied on two key groups to stay in power: ultra-nationalists who want to escalate the war in Gaza beyond what much of the Israeli public is willing to tolerate, and ultra-Orthodox parties who insist on maintaining exemptions from military service — a stance that has generated resentment among some non-Orthodox Israelis, who bear the brunt of the war effort.
With the ultra-Orthodox unlikely to return without a clear legislative fix — and none is forthcoming — the odds of a government collapse are high.
This upheaval raises big questions.
The first is Iran. “The threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program is one of the few unifying issues among Israelis,” says Eurasia Group’s Middle East Director Firas Maksad. “A successful raid that delays Iran’s ability to acquire a nuclear weapon could strengthen Netanyahu’s domestic position.”
But a dramatic move against Iran, without strong US backing — particularly from President Donald Trump, who currently favors diplomacy — would carry major risks.
“Even if it’s possible technically to do it, maybe desired by Israelis,” Peleg explains, “the American veto would be a major factor on the negative side.”
The second is Gaza. Early elections would raise pressure on Netanyahu to secure more hostage releases from Gaza and strike a temporary ceasefire — with growing war fatigue and frustration over hostages likely to weaken Likud at the polls.
If the government collapses and elections are held, the increasingly unpopular Netanyahu could lose his grip on power. He would be challenged by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, whose newly-registered right-wing party is currently leading in the polls.
Netanyahu, a skilled politician who has held the premiership in several stints since the 1990s, has come back from more than one prediction of his demise. Will this time be different?
Maksad says that while it’s “not impossible that [Netanyahu] could manage to return the premiership… It would be an uphill battle.”
Israelis hold up photos of dead children in Gaza at demonstration in Tel Aviv, May 7th, 2025.
Israelis hold vigils for children killed in Gaza as government expands war
Tom Zandman, a 36-year-old Jewish Israeli from Jaffa, was once a staunch supporter of Israel’s war in Gaza. But now he says there’s nothing defensible or defensive about it. On a busy street corner during rush hour in Tel Aviv last week, Zandman was one of dozens of Israelis standing on the roadside, all holding photos of children killed in Gaza.
“After October 7th, we were all super high on our sense of self-righteousness,” Zandman told me, holding up a photo of two young girls who were killed. “But as time went on, I realized how historic this was… what we are doing in Gaza will be remembered as one of the worst atrocities of the 21st century.”
A car slowed down as it approached the demonstration. The driver honked his horn and rolled down the window. “yamuutuu kuulam!” screamed a woman in the passenger seat at the demonstrators. “Kill them all” in Hebrew.
Most anti-war activism in Israel has focused on demanding a ceasefire deal that would secure the release of the hostages. But an increasing number of Israelis are now taking to the streets to protest against what they view as criminal conduct from the Israeli military in Gaza. These demonstrations are now happening multiple times a week in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Thousands of Israelis marched to the Gaza border on Sunday demanding an end to the war.
As of May 5 2025, 16,278 children and 52,653 people in total have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Critics argue these figures are unreliable as they come from a ministry in a Hamas-led government. But a recent analysis published in The Economist, along with a peer-reviewed article in the medical journal The Lancet, suggests the true death figures in Gaza could be much higher.
“I have a son who was born nine months ago. And I have this sense that he was born with a Gaza-shaped birthmark on his forehead — a mark of Cain,” Zandman said. The mark of Cain, from the Book of Genesis, is a sign God gave Cain to protect him after he killed his brother Abel.
“I have this sense that my son will walk around the world as an Israeli with that thing on his forehead. Germans live in this sense of eternal apology for the Holocaust, it’s going to be the same here,” he said.
The Israeli government has tried to crack down on protests like the one Zandman attended. In late April, Israeli police briefly prohibited Israelis from displaying images of Palestinian children killed in Gaza and using terms like "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" on signs. But following public criticism and pressure from civil society groups, police rescinded the restrictions.
"I thought [the police order] was comically stupid. Trying to ban us has only had the effect of making our voices louder. The fact that they want to stop us from showing what's happening only reinforces the fact that it's happening," said Jed Silver, an American who moved to Israel at the end of last year.
Silver has been joining the demonstrations week after week. “People will come up to us and yell and curse. I think they’re just shocked, and there’s just a lot of unwillingness to accept that this is what their country is doing,” he said.
A woman named Maya Darnell got in between another honking motorist and the demonstrators. She’s an organizer with Standing Together, a grassroots organization that advocates social justice for all in Israel-Palestine.
“I am perpetually shocked that this is still going on. Consistently, we’ve seen that the Israeli public does not support this war or the government,” she said.
A poll from the Israel Democracy Institute in April found that 68% of Israelis believed that bringing home all the hostages was more important than toppling Hamas. Only 25% of those polled believed the latter was more important. But the Israeli government continues to defy popular opinion. On May 4th, Netanyahu’s cabinet approved a new plan to expand the war. It will see the Israeli military occupy the entirety of the Gaza Strip, flatten even larger swaths of it, and force all of Gaza’s residents into small areas in the south.
“We cannot go back to October 7. There are two main objectives before us: the return of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” said IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir during a visit to Gaza on Sunday.
Israel has enforced a complete blockade on humanitarian aid entering Gaza since March 2nd, following the collapse of the last ceasefire agreement. Under the new plan, Israel will renew aid to the strip, but only in designated “sterile zones.” All members of the cabinet voted in favor, except for Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, who wished to see all remaining humanitarian aid depots destroyed by Israeli forces.
Shortly after the plan was approved on May 5th, Netanyahu released a video statement saying that the purpose of the operation was not for Israeli forces to launch raids into Gaza and then retreat, but to establish a “sustained presence.” He also said the population would be relocated “for its own protection.”
“Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to the south to a humanitarian zone without Hamas or terrorism, and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at a press conference on May 6th.
On May 16, NBC News reported that the Trump administration was developing a plan to force more than one million Gazans into Libya, citing five people with knowledge of the matter. The plan is reportedly under serious enough consideration for it to have been discussed with Libyan leadership. But following publication of the report, a government spokesperson told NBC News, “these reports are untrue.”
Other countries like Indonesia and Jordan have already been accepting very small numbers of Gazans for medical treatment, but have outright rejected their resettlement. No country has agreed to participate in the forced displacement and relocation of large numbers of Gazans.
The intensification of Israel’s campaign in Gaza has also drawn significant ire from world leaders. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has since labelled Israel a genocidal state. German Chancellor Olaf Sholz stated that any resettlement plans involving the expulsion of Gaza's citizens are "unacceptable." And President Donald Trump has acknowledged that “people are starving” in Gaza, as he skipped Israel on his visit to the Middle East.
Zandman fears the damage to Israel’s international reputation could be catastrophic.
“This is what being an Israeli will mean from now on. It’s not about falafel, it’s not about the high-tech industry or Jaffa. Whatever you want to think about Israel, none of that matters now. Being an Israeli is what we did in Gaza. That’s it.”
People gather after Friday prayers during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Amman, Jordan, on April 4, 2025.
Jordan arrests 16 accused terrorists
Jordanian authorities announced on Wednesday the arrest of 16 people accused of planning terrorist attacks inside Jordan. The country’s security services say the suspects had been under surveillance since 2021, and half a dozen of them were reportedly members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist organization.
The Brotherhood, which has links to the Islamic Action Front, the largest opposition group in Jordan’s parliament, denies any involvement, and insists that it is "committed to its peaceful approach" to Jordan’s politics.
The story highlights underlying tensions in Jordan. The monarchy is a key US ally and aid-recipient, and it made peace with Israel in 1994. But Israel’s assault on Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks generated huge anger in Jordan, where nearly half of the country’s 11.5 million people are of Palestinian origin.
The Islamic Action Front’s ferocious criticism of both Israel and King Abdullah helped it to place first in last year’s election, though the country’s weak parliament remains dominated by pro-government parties.
The bottom line: Much media attention for Israel’s war with Hamas is focused on events in Gaza, but the conflict continues to reverberate around the Middle East. Jordan’s King Abdullah is walking a particularly fine line: how to project both stability and legitimacy as war rages across the border, and tensions run high at home.