Smotrich Preempts Trump-Netanyahu Meeting with Six Red Lines on Gaza Plan

As Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to meet Donald Trump, his coalition partner Bezalel Smotrich is brandishing “red lines,” setting conditions that could derail the deal before it even takes shape.

On Monday, the far-right Israeli Finance Minister announced that he had conveyed his party’s Religious Zionism “red lines” to Netanyahu ahead of the prime minister’s scheduled White House meeting with the U.S. president. The talks are expected to focus on Washington’s 21-point plan to end the Gaza war.

According to The Times of Israel, Smotrich outlined six conditions under which his party would support the deal, which aims to end hostilities, establish a post-war governance framework, and secure the release of the 48 hostages held by Hamas — about 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.

The Six Conditions

In a statement carried by Israeli media, Smotrich spelled out his party’s non-negotiable demands:

1. End the war only through the complete dismantling of Hamas, full disarmament of the group, and genuine demilitarization of Gaza.

2. Israeli forces must remain along Gaza’s borders, including the Philadelphi Corridor on the frontier with Egypt, with unrestricted freedom of action across
3. 1. the coastal enclave.

   2. Absolutely no role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza’s administration — not even indirectly — as this would amount to recognizing a Palestinian state.

   3. The agreement must not include even a hint of a reference to a Palestinian state.

   4. Qatar must be denied any role in post-war Gaza governance.

   5. The border with Egypt should be opened to allow Palestinians wishing to leave Gaza to resettle in any country willing to take them.

   What about annexation in the West Bank?

   Smotrich also raised the issue of West Bank annexation, a core priority for his party.

   Referring to the territory by its biblical names, he insisted that Netanyahu “must firmly entrench, both politically and practically, the fact that Judea and Samaria are an inseparable part of the sovereign State of Israel,” while also presenting “an alternative plan for managing the lives of Arabs in Judea and Samaria.”

   Trump’s 21-point plan outlines a possible pathway toward a future Palestinian state — an outcome Netanyahu has repeatedly and vehemently rejected, most recently describing it at the United Nations on Friday as “sheer madness.”

   Netanyahu has consistently opposed any role for the Palestinian Authority in post-war Gaza, while Trump has argued that a reformed Authority could potentially help govern the enclave.

   Speaking at the White House last Thursday, Trump said: “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. I won’t allow it. It’s not going to happen.”