State Department: Arab plan for Gaza not ‘adequate’; Hamas can’t continue to exist there

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says the Trump administration views the Arab plan for the post-war management of the Gaza Strip to be inadequate.

Bruce doesn’t offer specifics on what is missing from the plan, but states that the US will not accept a framework that leads to a return of the cycle of violence involving Gaza, and insists that Hamas can not continue to exist in the Strip.

While the Arab plan envisions Hamas no longer in control of Gaza’s governance, it doesn’t specifically address the terror group’s military wing, beyond saying that armed groups in the Strip can only be addressed through a political process that establishes a Palestinian state.

Still, the Arab League, in a statement endorsing the Egyptian plan, asserted that the security of Gaza “remains the exclusive responsibility of legitimate Palestinian institutions, [who will operate] in accordance with the principle of one law and one legitimate weapon” — meaning that armed groups other than the Palestinian Authority’s security forces will not be accepted.

Bruce says that US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to take over Gaza and relocate all of its Palestinians was “an invitation for new ideas, and it seemed to have spurred some new ideas” from the Arab world. However, what Washington has seen to date from its allies has not been “adequate.”

“The Arab [plan] does not fulfill… the nature of what President Trump was asking for,” she says.

However, the US welcomes the Arab effort to address the issue, which Bruce says must continue.

Earlier Thursday, US envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff took a softer approach when asked about the Arab plan, saying it was a “good faith first step” with “a lot of compelling features to it.”