Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Year : 2, Issue: 23/strong>
AFP: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet President Donald Trump on Tuesday, as Israel and Hamas say they are ready for negotiations on a new phase in their fragile Gaza ceasefire.
Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Trump returned to power last month, will discuss the truce’s future and efforts to end the Gaza war.
Hours before their meeting, Netanyahu’s office said Israel would send a delegation to the Qatari capital Doha later this week for negotiations.
“Israel is preparing for the working-level delegation to leave for Doha at the end of this week in order to discuss technical details related to the continued implementation of the agreement,” the office said in a statement following meetings in Washington between Netanyahu and Trump’s advisors, including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Hamas has said it is ready to negotiate the second stage of the ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States.
The next phase aims to secure the release of remaining hostages and lay out steps toward ending the war, which has devastated the Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people.
‘No guarantees’
The war broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Trump has repeatedly touted a plan to “clean out” Gaza, calling for Palestinians to move to neighbouring countries such as Egypt or Jordan, despite all those parties strongly rejecting his proposal.
Before leaving for Washington, Netanyahu said Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and its confrontations with Iran had “redrawn the map” in the Middle East.
“But I believe that working closely with President Trump we can redraw it even further, and for the better,” he said.
The White House meeting promises to be a crucial one for a region shattered by war since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel.
Trump said Sunday that talks with Israel and other Middle Eastern countries were “progressing” — but then warned less than 24 hours later that there that were “no guarantees that the peace is going to hold.”
