At a Trump-led White House meeting, Israel’s Ron Dermer ruled out permanent occupation or expulsion in Gaza, urging an international plan to replace Hamas with viable governance.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest advisers, played a central role in a White House meeting convened Wednesday by President Donald Trump to discuss a post-war governance framework for Gaza, Axios’ Barak Ravid reported.
Sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Dermer delivered a clear message: Israel does not intend to permanently occupy Gaza, nor does it seek to expel its population — distancing Netanyahu’s government from hardline proposals circulating in Israel.
Instead, Dermer stressed that Israel’s priority is finding a credible alternative to Hamas. “Dermer’s message was: As long as our conditions are met, we will be flexible about everything else,” one source told Axios.
Dermer was in Washington to brief Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff on Israel’s operational plan for Gaza City, which includes a humanitarian surge alongside military action. Toward the end of the meeting, Trump asked Dermer to outline Israel’s needs and red lines in any “day-after” scenario.
The meeting also featured Jared Kushner and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who pitched their vision for Gaza’s future governance and economic reconstruction. Their ideas focused on attracting investment to rebuild the enclave while ensuring a governing authority acceptable to both Israel and the international community.
Trump reportedly gave his blessing for Kushner and Blair to continue developing the plan, though no final decisions were made. The central challenge remains unresolved: who will govern Gaza once Hamas is removed.
“The goal is for the U.S. to lead the effort to find an internationally accepted governance structure in Gaza that will allow Israel to pull out without deteriorating back to the old reality again from a security standpoint,” one source explained.
For now, the discussions mark the opening moves in what may become a high-stakes international effort to shape Gaza’s post-Hamas future — one balancing Israel’s security demands with regional and global diplomacy.
