Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was touring to Washington on Sunday for conferences this week with President Trump and senior administration officers at a pivotal second for the Center East.
Mr. Trump has made it clear that he needs the wars within the Center East to finish after the October 2023 Hamas-led assault on Israel set off 15 months of devastating battle in Gaza that additionally unfold to Lebanon. Earlier than boarding his airplane on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu made a number of references to “peace.”
“The choices we made within the battle have already modified the face of the Center East,” Mr. Netanyahu mentioned. “I consider that we are able to strengthen safety, broaden the circle of peace and obtain a outstanding period of peace via energy,” he added.
Mr. Netanyahu is anticipated to be the primary overseas chief to satisfy with Mr. Trump since his inauguration final month. The Israeli chief is anticipated to carry formative discussions with the Trump administration about a number of essential regional points.
Negotiations are supposed to begin on Monday for the second part of the cease-fire deal for Gaza that will flip the short-term truce that got here into impact on Jan. 19 right into a extra everlasting cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas and see the discharge of all of the remaining hostages being held there.
Testifying to the fragility of the scenario on the bottom, an Israeli plane on Sunday fired towards a car in Gaza that the army mentioned was advancing north alongside an unauthorized route as an alternative of the agreed inspection route, breaking days of calm within the Palestinian enclave. It was not instantly clear if the airstrike induced casualties.
As well as, the trial stage of a U.S.-brokered cease-fire for Lebanon is about to run out on Feb. 18, by which period each the Israeli army and Hezbollah are supposed to have vacated the southern a part of that nation.
Overarching points for the way forward for the Center East additionally stay on the agenda. These embrace curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and help for armed proxies on Israel’s borders, in addition to the opportunity of a grand cut price involving formal ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a serious regional participant.
Mr. Netanyahu mentioned from the tarmac on Sunday that the problems to be mentioned with Mr. Trump embrace “victory over Hamas, attaining the discharge of all our hostages and coping with the Iranian terror axis in all its elements.”
His workplace mentioned that Mr. Netanyahu is anticipated to satisfy with Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Center East envoy, on Monday and with Mr. Trump on Tuesday.
Mr. Netanyahu spoke by cellphone with Mr. Witkoff on Saturday and the 2 males agreed to begin the negotiations for the second part of the Gaza deal of their assembly on Monday, Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned in a press release, suggesting that Mr. Witkoff will play a serious position in shuttle diplomacy.
There was no rapid remark from the White Home or Mr. Witkoff, who performed an essential position in brokering the preliminary, six-week part of the cease-fire deal for Gaza. Within the days earlier than Mr. Trump took workplace, he labored in coordination with officers from the Biden administration, in addition to Qatar and Egypt — the 2 predominant nations mediating between Israel and Hamas.
On Sunday, the prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, instructed a information convention in Doha that his authorities would “proceed to work in cooperation with our companions within the Arab Republic of Egypt and the USA to make sure the total implementation of this settlement.”
Mr. Netanyahu’s go to to Washington comes amid a extra hopeful ambiance in Israel and Gaza over the primary part of the cease-fire. That has seen the discharge over the previous two weeks of 13 Israeli hostages in alternate for a whole bunch of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. One of many hostages launched on Saturday was Keith Siegal, 65, a twin American-Israeli citizen.
Most of the households of launched hostages have thanked Mr. Trump and his staff for getting the long-awaited deal over the end line after months of efforts by the Biden administration.
However questions surrounding the subsequent part stay unresolved. Mr. Netanyahu had vowed publicly and repeatedly to destroy Hamas’s army and governing capabilities and to protect the choice of going again to combating after the preliminary part of the deal, if mandatory.
The photographs of gun-toting Hamas militants organizing the handover ceremonies of hostages to the Pink Cross have underscored the diploma to which the group stays in management in Gaza.
Mr. Witkoff made a uncommon go to to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, in response to a White Home official, aiming to strengthen the cease-fire that has additionally allowed tens of hundreds of displaced Palestinians to return to their houses. Mr. Witkoff had additionally visited Saudi Arabia earlier than assembly Mr. Netanyahu in Israel final week.
Mr. Trump has raised the thought on a number of events that Gazans ought to be moved en masse to Egypt and Jordan. His suggestion echoes an thought floated in Israel early within the battle and the desires of the Israeli far proper that Palestinians be inspired to go away Gaza.
However on Saturday Egypt and Jordan — together with Saudi Arabia and different Arab nations — warned in a joint assertion that any plan that inspired the “switch or uprooting of Palestinians from their land” would threaten regional stability and “undermine the probabilities of peace and coexistence amongst its individuals.”
Gabby Sobelman and Myra Noveck contributed reporting from Israel, and Ismaeel Naar from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
