MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President Trump announced that his Board of Peace has reached a deal with the Palestinian militant group Hamas to completely disarm. Hamas is disputing that.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far been silent.
MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez is here with us in studio to bring us the latest. Good morning, Franco.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So what are the details of what the president is claiming?
ORDOÑEZ: Trump said last night that, quote, "as disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw." He added that the International Stabilization Force will then work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza. And in a statement, Trump's Board of Peace also said that it had agreed to a detailed plan with the help of mediators from Qatar, Turkey and Egypt. But the condition that Hamas will disarm was already a key part of the 20-point peace deal that the U.S. brokered nine months ago. And the execution of that part of the deal has been stuck. And the Israeli military has continued to push into Gaza.
MARTIN: What are we hearing from the actual parties in the war, Israel and Hamas?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, Michel, like so many of these things, a lot comes down to the details and obviously the execution of those. The problem seems to be a disagreement over what comes first, whether it's Israel pulling out of Gaza or Hamas handing over their weapons. Now, the Board of Peace says, quote, "withdrawal must move in lockstep with decommissioning." But a senior Hamas official told NPR that they would only give up their weapons if Israel withdraws from Gaza first.
Now, since the October peace deal, the Israeli military has really increased the amount of territory it occupies in Gaza. And in those nine months, almost 10 months since the ceasefire, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,100 people in Gaza. Now, so far, Israel leader Benjamin Netanyahu has not commented on Trump's announcement. He did meet with Trump in Washington earlier this week, but there was no indication that this came up. Both sides really just put out very limited statements.
MARTIN: And this is all coming as the U.S. and Israel are still involved in another war, against Iran, which a new poll from AP finds most Americans, almost two-thirds, say is not worth it. So it's entirely reasonable, Franco, to ask about the political context of all this. So what is the politics of all this?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, Trump could use a win on Gaza as the war in Iran shows no signs of ending. The U.S. and Tehran continue to trade more strikes in a widening war that now appears to have expanded into Egypt. Alex Conant, a veteran Republican strategist, says the Iran conflict is a ways from turning into one of those never-ending wars, like the ones that have plagued past presidents. But he says if fighting continues and gas prices keep rising, there will be political consequences.
ALEX CONANT: If you look through history, you know, every president who has entered a war in modern times that's gone longer than people expected, whether it was Vietnam or the war on terror and the Iraq war, it starts to weigh on them politically.
ORDOÑEZ: Now, the midterms are still more than three months away, so there's still time to turn things around. But they're approaching fast. And many Americans disapprove. As you noted, polls show many Americans say the war is not worth the fight. The expanding conflict is really just testing Trump's vow to ensure peace through strength versus a reality of a conflict that has lasted months longer than the President promised.
MARTIN: That is NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Franco, thank you.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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