 "Trump says Pak PM Sharif, Army chief Munir welcome his Gaza peace plan")
US President Donald Trump on Monday (local time) said that Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir "100 per cent" backed his plan to end the Israel-Gaza conflict, as he listed them among the "world leaders" involved in the negotiations.
Trump presented a 20-point peace plan to end the Israel-Gaza war after he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. At a joint media briefing, Trump said that after extensive consultation with "friends and partners", he was formally releasing the "principles of peace".
"These are done in total consideration and working with the nations that we're talking about. All of these nations have made contributions to those suggestions. I want to thank the leaders of many Arab and Muslim nations for their tremendous support in developing the proposal along with many of our allies in Europe," Trump said.
Trump thanks Muslim countries for backing Gaza peace plan
Thanking the leaders, Trump said, "And I want to just say that my meetings and dialogue that we had with so many countries, Saudi Arabia as an example, the King is a phenomenal person. The Emir of Qatar, who is incredible, the UAE, and that's MBZ and ABZ."
"The King of Jordan was with us in the United Nations. President of Turkiye, President Erdogan. He's a friend of mine, a strong man but a good man. The President of Indonesia, who is an amazing leader, is Prabowo (Subianto). He is an amazing leader and is respected by everybody. He was in the room with us. We were together with most of these people that I'm mentioning. Others were by phone or the next day. The prime minister and the field marshal of Pakistan... they were with us right from the beginning, incredible," he added.
Responding to a reporter's question, Trump said, "In fact, they just put out a statement that they fully believe in this pact. It just came out. Just as I was walking out, they said 'sir, you have a big notice from the prime minister of Pakistan and from the field marshal that they back this 100 per cent'."
Trump's Gaza peace plan
Trump's 20-point peace plan entails that Gaza will become a "deradicalised, terror-free zone" that does not pose a threat to its neighbours and will be redeveloped.
The plan, if accepted by both Hamas and Israel, will end the war immediately, and the Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed-upon line to prepare for a hostage release. Under the proposal, all military activity, including air strikes and artillery fire, would pause, with frontlines held in place until conditions are set for a phased withdrawal. The plan also requires the return of all hostages, living or deceased, within 72 hours of Israel’s formal acceptance of the agreement.
Following Trump's peace plan, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Qatar, and Egypt issued a joint statement welcoming his leadership and sincere efforts to end the war in Gaza. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also endorsed Trump's plan.
Trump hosts Shehbaz Sharif, Asim Munir
Last week, Trump met with Sharif and Munir at the White House in a closed-room discussion. The meeting came days after Trump and Sharif had an informal exchange at the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting held in New York.
Earlier this year, Trump also hosted Asim Munir at the White House, nearly a month after India and Pakistan were engaged in a conflict. While the agenda of the meeting was not disclosed, Sharif and Munir reiterated Trump's claim of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May, after four days of military confrontation.
While Islamabad has continuously acknowledged Trump's efforts to broker a deal between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, India has rejected his efforts, adding that a ceasefire was agreed without his involvement.
(with PTI inputs)