Tony Blair meets Netanyahu and Abbas on Gaza's future - report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former British prime minister Tony Blair held unpublicized talks on the future of the Gaza Strip in late November, the Times of Israel and Israel's public broadcaster reported on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump's peace plan provides for setting up an international "Board of Peace" headed by Trump himself with Blair as a member. The plan also includes a transitional government comprising non-political Palestinian experts.

Israel's Kan public broadcaster reported that Blair met Netanyahu in Israel during a visit to the region as well as meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Netanyahu's office has not commented on the reports.

According to the Kan report, Blair advocated during the talks that the Palestinian Authority headed by Abbas should initially control parts of the Gaza Strip as a "pilot project," with the intention that this be expanded, if it is successful.

The plan also provides for elections in the Palestinian areas. Kan reported that Blair was coordinating closely with Arab states and with the United States and also that he was expected to visit the region again soon.

The Times of Israel reported, however, that a source familiar with the matter "flatly denies" Kan's reporting that Blair had presented a plan for what the newspaper termed "the immediate, phased return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza."

Netanyahu's right-wing religious government officially rejects any Palestinian Authority involvement in Gaza's future.

Separately, Hamas rejects the disarmament proposed in Trump's peace plan.