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 an finish to the wars within the Center East, which started with the October 2023 Hamas-led assault on Israel that led to fifteen 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 selections we made within the struggle have already modified the face of the Center East,” Mr. Netanyahu mentioned. “I consider that we will strengthen safety, broaden the circle of peace and obtain a outstanding period of peace by energy,” he added.
Mr. Netanyahu is anticipated to be the primary international 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 start out on Monday for the second part of the cease-fire deal for Gaza that might flip the momentary 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 automobile in Gaza that the navy mentioned was advancing north alongside an unauthorized route as an alternative of the agreed inspection route, breaking days of calm within the Palestinian enclave. Gaza’s Ministry of Well being didn’t instantly report any fatalities.
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 era each the Israeli navy and Hezbollah are supposed to have vacated the southern a part of that nation.
Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s chief, in a speech on Sunday accused Israel of failing to uphold the phrases of the Lebanon truce. He referred to as for strain to be placed on the US, which helped dealer the settlement and is overseeing it, to make sure the cease-fire phrases are saved to.
“Resistance is a path and a alternative and we act in line with our evaluation on the applicable time,” Mr. Qassem mentioned, suggesting that Hezbollah could contemplate resuming combating.
Mr. Qassem additionally mentioned {that a} funeral for Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime Hezbollah chief killed in an Israeli airstrike final fall, will likely be held on Feb. 23, simply days after the preliminary part of the truce is anticipated to finish.
Overarching points for the way forward for the Center East additionally stay on the agenda for Mr. Netanyahu in his go to. These embody curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and assist for armed proxies on Israel’s borders, in addition to the potential for 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 embody “victory over Hamas, reaching 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 start out the negotiations for the second part of the Gaza deal of their assembly on Monday, Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned in an announcement. The schedule advised that Mr. Witkoff will play a serious function in shuttle diplomacy.
There was no speedy remark from the White Home or Mr. Witkoff, who performed an necessary function 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 foremost international locations 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 US to make sure the complete implementation of this settlement.”
Mr. Netanyahu’s go to to Washington comes amid a extra hopeful ambiance in Israel and Gaza. The primary part of the cease-fire has seen the discharge over the previous two weeks of 13 Israeli hostages, together with a twin American-Israeli citizen, in trade for a whole bunch of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Lots of the households of launched hostages have thanked Mr. Trump and his crew for getting the long-awaited deal over the end line after months of efforts by the Biden administration.
However questions surrounding the following part stay unresolved. Mr. Netanyahu had vowed publicly and repeatedly to destroy Hamas’s navy and governing capabilities and to protect the choice of going again to combating after the preliminary part of the deal, if obligatory.
Photos 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 line with a White Home official, aiming to bolster 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 concept on a number of events that Gazans must be moved en masse to Egypt and Jordan. His suggestion echoes an thought floated in Israel early within the struggle and the needs of the Israeli far proper that Palestinians be inspired to depart Gaza.
However on Saturday Egypt and Jordan — together with Saudi Arabia and different Arab international locations — 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 possibilities of peace and coexistence amongst its individuals.”
Gabby Sobelman and Myra Noveck contributed reporting from Israel, and Ismaeel Naar from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
