Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to a Gaza ceasefire deal after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. The 21-point plan for ending the war in Gaza emerged from the administration late last week, which, among other things, calls for the immediate release of all remaining hostages, the disarmament of Hamas and demilitarization of Gaza, and a pathway to a future Palestinian state. It currently remains unclear whether the deal will be agreed to by the Hamas terrorist group.

The proposal, reportedly crafted by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and circulated among a number of Arab countries on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last week, additionally calls for Israel to release several hundred Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the freed Israeli hostages, for Gaza to be governed by a Hamas-free transitional body overseen by the U.S., Europe, and Arab partners, for Gaza’s new leaders to commit to peaceful coexistence with Israel, for an international stabilization force to gradually take over security from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and other points.

If Hamas does not agree to the terms of the deal, Trump stated that Israel will continue to have U.S. backing to conduct its war to rid Gaza of Hamas.

The renewed push from the Trump administration for a peace deal comes in the wake of the president’s declaration last week that the U.S. “would not allow” Israel to officially reclaim Judea and Samaria (also known as the “West Bank”) as its own territory. Even though Israel’s Knesset overwhelmingly voted to approve the reclamation in July, observers say Trump’s refusal to approve of the move is due to the international complications that would arise with other Arab nations, many of whom strongly object to Israel taking control of the region.

Still, a large cohort of Christian organizations and pastors in the U.S. is urging the Trump administration to support Israel’s “God-given right” to exercise sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. On Sunday, a coalition of over 200 evangelical pastors and leaders sent a letter to President Trump, observing in part, “Sovereignty over this land is Israel’s God-given right, and for the sake of justice and lasting peace, it must be recognized.”

The letter continued, “As Christians who stand firmly with the Jewish people, we ask you to continue your courageous

leadership by acknowledging Israel’s right to exercise sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. Such a step would not only align with biblical truth, but it would also advance peace by grounding policy in reality rather than illusion.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), who became the first U.S. speaker in history to visit Judea and Samaria in August, reaffirmed his support for Israeli sovereignty over the region during “This Week on Capitol Hill” over the weekend while also acknowledging the difficulties of it coming to fruition. “I believe Judea and Samaria are the traditional lands that belong to Israel. But there’s a lot of geopolitical forces at play here. I think there’s a lot more to be settled out, and we’ll have to see how it develops.”

Johnson went on to echo Netanyahu’s plea during his U.N. speech last Friday for Hamas to release the remaining 48 Israeli hostages (of whom 20 are believed to still be alive), who have been tortured and held in continuous captivity in the dark tunnels underneath Gaza for almost two years.

“Everyone around the world, all free, loving people everywhere, in every nation at the U.N., should have applauded that message and that call,” he noted. “Hamas is a vicious, vile terrorist organization. They use people as human shields, and they have already murdered some of the hostages, and they tortured the rest of them. It is beyond the pale. Look, right after October 7th, Bibi Netanyahu said it as well as anybody could. … He said, ‘This is a battle of good versus evil, light versus darkness, civilization versus barbarism.’ And that has not changed since October 8th. Since the day he said that it still goes on. The United Nations needs to get behind the good side of this so it can be resolved.”

Johnson concluded by underscoring that pressure must be exerted on Hamas in order for the crisis to end.

“[S]o many [U.N.] countries st[ood] up and effectively walk[ed] out and boycott[ed] the Prime Minister’s speech [on Friday]. I mean, [these are] really sad and dangerous developments. We need everybody to help broker the peace there, and the way to do that is to apply pressure to Hamas, not to Israel. They’re the ones that are continuing the conflict, and everybody needs to take recognition of that.”