The 20-point Trump plan does not require people to leave Gaza as Netanyahu had sought for months and calls for the war to end immediately if both sides accept it.
The plan also calls for all remaining Israeli captives to be released within 72 hours of Israel accepting the plan.
The US president, partly reading from prepared remarks and partly speaking off the cuff, said his plan would give the Palestinian people a chance to have that peace.
“I challenge the Palestinians to take responsibility for their destiny because that’s what we’re giving them. We’re giving them responsibility for their destiny,” he said.
The Palestinians would not be asked to leave Gaza during reconstruction of the strip, and those who leave would have the right to return, said Trump at the presser.
"Israel would have my full backing to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas, but I hope that we're going to have a deal for peace, and if Hamas rejects the deal, which is always possible, they're the only ones left," warned Trump.
"Everyone else has accepted it, but I have a feeling that we're going to have a positive answer."
“Bibi, you’d have our full backing to do what you would have to do,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
For his part, Netanyahu said, "I support your plan to end the war in Gaza, which achieves our war aims." He added that he will bring back the Israeli captives, dismantle Hamas's military capabilities and end its political rule, to "ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel."
“You’ve proven time and again what I’ve said many times. You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” the Israeli prime minister said.
Qatari and Egyptian mediators met on Monday with Hamas to provide the Palestinian resistance group with Trump's new plan, an official briefed on the talks told AFP.
Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egypt's intelligence head Hassan Mahmoud Rashad "just met with Hamas negotiators and shared the document.
The Hamas negotiators said they would review it in good faith and provide a response," the source said, speaking to the AFP on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.
The Trump and Netanyahu announcement at the White House comes amid growing regional and international condemnation of the two-year-old Israeli genocidal war and starvation policies against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.
For weeks, the Israeli occupation army has been carrying out an air and ground assault on Gaza City to ethnically cleanse more than 1.2 million civilians from the north to the south of the strip, despite regional and global condemnation.
The Trump administration and the Biden administration before it have been accused by many states and rights organizations of aiding and abetting Tel Aviv in its war on the Palestinians through providing Israel with unlimited military and diplomatic support.
In recent months, the growing global outcry against the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza, which killed and wounded nearly 230,000 Palestinians, destroyed the strip, and left the population facing the first-ever famine in the Middle East, has left the Netanyahu government increasingly shunned and isolated on the world scene.
President Trump formulated his peace plan after holding a summit on the sidelines of the UNGA last week with Arab and Muslim leaders who urged him to pressure Netanyahu to end the carnage in Gaza.
His plan also comes amid a growing international recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state side by side with Israel as more than 150 nations have recognized the State of Palestine.
"Hamas will be disarmed. Gaza will be demilitarized. Israel will retain security responsibility, including a security perimeter, for the foreseeable future."
"And lastly, Gaza will have a peaceful, civilian administration that is run neither by Hamas nor by the Palestinian Authority," said Netanyahu.
"If Hamas rejects your plan, Mr. President, or if they supposedly accept it and then, then basically do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself. This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done," added Netanyahu, who has made war on the Palestinians and opposition to a Palestinian state hallmarks of his political career.
In January 2025, then-President-Elect Trump pressured Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire in the Gaza war, which led to the exchange of captives and prisoners and the entry of humanitarian aid to the strip.
However, in March, Netanyahu unilaterally ended the ceasefire to resume the war, killing and wounding tens of thousands of civilians. In tandem, he enforced a total blockade on the strip, plunging the entire population into famine.
Last month, Israel carried out an airstrike to assassinate the Hamas negotiating team in Doha, triggering regional and international condemnation for violating Qatari sovereignty and attempting to kill Qatari and Egyptian mediation efforts to end the war.
On Friday, in a warmongering speech to a nearly empty hall at the UNGA, Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in the Gaza war, vowed to continue his war despite global condemnation and rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Back in Tel Aviv, the main Israeli group representing the families of captives held in Gaza hailed US President Trump's peace plan for the Palestinian territory, urging international pressure on Hamas to accept it.
"This is a historic agreement that will allow our people to heal, end the war, and chart a new future for the Middle East," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement, commending Netanyahu for accepting the plan.
At the presser, President Trump noted that Washington's peace plan for Gaza would involve the drawing up of a timeline for Israeli forces to withdraw from the Palestinian enclave in phases.
"Working with the new transitional authority in Gaza, all parties will agree on a timeline for Israeli forces to withdraw in phases," said Trump.
A Hamas official said the group was briefed on the Trump peace plan but has yet to receive an official offer from Egyptian and Qatari mediators, according to the AP.
The Palestinian resistance group has repeatedly rejected laying down arms and has linked its weapons to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
On Sunday, Hamas reaffirmed its readiness “to study any proposals it receives from the mediators with full positivity and responsibility, in a manner that preserves the national rights of our people.”
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