Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks throughout a press convention in Jerusalem, Dec. 9, 2024.
Maya Alleruzzo/AP
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Maya Alleruzzo/AP
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Sunday he’ll focus on “victory over Hamas,” countering Iran and increasing diplomatic relations with Arab international locations in his assembly with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Tuesday’s assembly on the White Home shall be Trump’s first with a overseas chief since returning to workplace. It comes as U.S. and Arab mediators start the daunting work of brokering the subsequent part of an settlement to wind down the warfare within the Gaza Strip and launch dozens of militant-held hostages.
Hamas, which has rapidly reasserted its management over Gaza for the reason that ceasefire took maintain final month, has stated it won’t launch the hostages slated to go free within the second part with out an finish to the warfare and the total withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Netanyahu, who’s beneath mounting stress from far-right governing companions to renew the warfare after the primary part ends in early March, has stated Israel continues to be dedicated to victory over Hamas and the return of all of the hostages captured within the militants’ Oct. 7, 2023 assault that triggered the warfare.
It is unclear the place Trump stands in all this.
He has been a staunch supporter of Israel, however has additionally pledged to finish wars within the Center East and took credit score for serving to to dealer the ceasefire settlement. The deal has halted the combating and led to the discharge of 18 hostages who had been held for over 15 months, in addition to tons of of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Netanyahu embraces Trump’s name for ‘peace by way of power’
In a press release launched forward of his departure on Sunday, Netanyahu stated they’d focus on “victory over Hamas, attaining the discharge of all our hostages and coping with the Iranian terror axis in all its parts,” referring to Iran’s alliance of militant teams throughout the area, together with Hamas.
He stated that by working collectively, they might “strengthen safety, broaden the circle of peace and obtain a outstanding period of peace by way of power.”
The warfare started when hundreds of Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 folks, largely civilians, and taking round 250 hostage. Over 100 hostages had been freed throughout a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023, eight have been rescued alive and dozens of our bodies have been recovered by Israeli forces.
Israel’s air and floor warfare has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, greater than half of them ladies and kids, in line with native well being authorities who don’t say how most of the useless had been fighters. The warfare has left massive components of a number of cities in ruins and displaced round 90% of Gaza’s inhabitants of two.3 million folks.
Below the primary part of the ceasefire settlement, Hamas is to launch a complete of 33 hostages, eight of whom Hamas says are useless, in change for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces have pulled again from most areas and allowed tons of of hundreds of Palestinians to return to devastated northern Gaza.
Negotiations on the second part, by which the warfare would finish and the remaining 60 or so hostages could be returned, are set to start Monday. If the US, Qatar and Egypt are unable to dealer an settlement between Israel and Hamas, the warfare might resume in early March.
Aspirations for a much bigger deal
Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, joined the yearlong ceasefire negotiations of their ultimate weeks final month and helped push the settlement over the end line. He met with Netanyahu in Israel final week and the 2 had been anticipated to formally start talks on the second part in Washington on Monday.
Trump, who brokered normalization agreements between Israel and 4 Arab international locations in his first time period, is believed to be searching for a wider and probably historic settlement by which Israel would forge ties with Saudi Arabia.
However the kingdom, which resisted related entreaties from the Biden administration, has stated it might solely conform to such a deal if the warfare ends and there’s a credible pathway to a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Financial institution and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured within the 1967 Mideast warfare.
Netanyahu’s authorities is against Palestinian statehood, and a key companion, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to depart the governing coalition if the warfare just isn’t resumed subsequent month. That might increase the probability of early elections by which Netanyahu might be voted out.
