Netanyahu goes to DC on Trump’s meeting as the next phase of negotiations set to the sequel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on the way to the United States to a central meeting with President Trump during which they are expected to talk ”Victory over Hamas“and expanding diplomatic relationships with Arab countries.

A meeting on Tuesday at the White House will be the first Mr. Trump with a foreign leader from returning to duty on January 20th. It comes when a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza holds and the mediators begin the scary work of mediation in the next phase of the agreement.

Hamas, who quickly reaffirmed his control over Gaza since the truce took over last month, is expected to release a total of 33 Israeli hostages during the first, six -week stages of agreement on a statement and release on hostages, which entered into force in January. 19. After Edition on Saturday18 has been released so far.

The militant group announced that she would not let go hostage that would be released in the second phase without ending the war and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces.

In a statement published on the eve of his departure on Sunday, Netanyahu said he and Mr. Trump would talk about “victory over Hamas, achieving all of our hostages and dealing with Iranian axis of the terror in all his components”, referring to the Iranian alliance about the Union Iranian Federation on the Iranian Union of the Iranian Union of the Iranian Union of the Iranian Union on the Iranian Union on the Iranian Union of the Iranian Federation of the Iranian Association of Militant Groups throughout the region, including Hamas.

He said that by working together, they could “strengthen security, expand the circle of peace and achieve an extraordinary era of peace with power.”

Netanyahu also said it was “saying” that the first foreign leader to meet with Trump from returning to the White House.

“I think this is a testimony to the power of the Israeli-American Association,” he said.

Netanyahu is under the high pressure of the end right that manages partners to continue the war after the first phase is over in early March. He said that Israel was still dedicated to victory over Hamas and the return of all hostages trapped in militants on October 7, 2023, the attack that started the war.

It is not clear where Trump stands.

He was an unwavering supporter of Israel, but also committed to ending the wars in the Middle East and took credit for assistance in mediation agreement on the termination of fire.

The deal stopped the fighting and led to the release of 18 hostages, which took place for more than 15 months, as well as hundreds of Palestinians closed by Israel.

The Israeli Air attack on a vehicle in central Gaza wounded on Sunday five people, including a child who was in critical condition, towards Al-Awda Hospital, who received victims. The Israeli army announced that she had shot the vehicle because she was bypassing the checkpoint as she walked north, breaking the fire interruption agreement. The army said that it remained dedicated to the agreement.

The war began when thousands of militants led by Hamas broke into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. Over 100 hostages were released during a weekly truce in November 2023, eight saved them, and dozens of bodies recovered Israeli forces.

Israeli air and terrestrial war killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of women and children, according to the HAMAS health authorities who do not say how many dead there were fighters.

Negotiations on the second phase, in which the war will end and the remaining 60 or more hostages will be returned, began on Monday. If the United States, Qatar and Egypt are unable to establish an agreement between Israel and Hamas, the war could continue in early March.

Aspirations for greater agreement

Trump’s envoy at Midead, Steve Witkoff, joined for year -old negotiations on the termination of fire in the last weeks of last month and helped to push an agreement over the goal. Last week, he met with Netanyahu in Israel, and it was expected that the two of them would officially start interviews in Washington on Monday.

Trump, who in his first term compared agreements on normalization between Israel and four Arab countries, seeks to seek a broader and potentially historical agreement in which Israel would establish ties with Saudi Arabia.

But the Kingdom, which resisted similar conditions from Biden’s administration, said that it would only agree to such an agreement if the war ended and there is a credible path to the Palestinian State in Gaza, the western coast of Jerusalem, the territory of Israel trapped in war of Midseast in 1967. .

The government of Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood, and the key partner, the ultimate right -wing Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, threatened to leave the management coalition if the war did not continue next month. This would increase the likelihood of early choices in which Netanyahu might be voted.