United States President Donald Trump has met Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the White Home for a second time in 24 hours to debate a potential ceasefire deal in Gaza.
The unscheduled talks on Tuesday night lasted simply over an hour, with no media entry, and got here as Israeli forces killed no less than 95 Palestinians in Gaza.
The 2 males had additionally met for a number of hours throughout a dinner on the White Home on Monday, throughout Netanyahu’s third go to to the US for the reason that president started his second time period on January 20.
Forward of the talks on Tuesday, Trump mentioned he can be talking with Netanyahu “virtually solely” about Gaza.
“We gotta get that solved. Gaza is – it’s a tragedy, and he desires to get it solved, and I need to get it solved, and I believe the opposite facet desires to,” he mentioned.
Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC, mentioned “little or no data” has come out from the newest talks, so “it has been tough to determine precisely what’s happening”.
“However the truth that it was so hermetically sealed, the truth that there was no clear readout of what was mentioned, the truth that the assembly lasted simply over an hour – all of it could point out that there’s some form of stumbling block, one thing that’s clouding the optimistic place that the 2 leaders have adopted over the previous 24 hours,” Hanna mentioned.
Shortly earlier than Trump met Netanyahu, his particular envoy to the Center East, Steve Witkoff, urged a ceasefire deal in Gaza is shut and mentioned Washington hopes to see an settlement finalised by the tip of the week.
He mentioned the problems retaining Israel and Hamas from agreeing had now dropped to 1 from 4.
“We’re hopeful that by the tip of this week, we’ll have an settlement that may carry us right into a 60-day ceasefire. Ten stay hostages will likely be launched. 9 deceased will likely be launched,” Witkoff instructed reporters at a gathering of Trump’s Cupboard.
However Netanyahu, talking shortly afterwards, throughout a gathering with the speaker of the Republican-controlled Home of Representatives, mentioned Israel’s marketing campaign within the Palestinian enclave was not carried out and that negotiators are “actually working” on a ceasefire.
“We now have nonetheless to complete the job in Gaza, launch all our hostages, eradicate and destroy Hamas’s army and authorities capabilities,” the Israeli chief mentioned.
Israel’s plan for Gaza
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Jordan, mentioned Israeli media declare Netanyahu is dealing with “excessive stress” from Trump to achieve a deal on Gaza.
“However nonetheless, there’s been no breakthrough,” she mentioned from the Jordanian capital, Amman.
“Israeli media can also be speaking a few delay within the journey plans of Witkoff to Doha, though earlier within the evening, he had sounded very optimistic about probably reaching a deal. As a result of in response to him, just one subject remained problematic – which is, ‘The place will the Israeli military redeploy to?’” Odeh mentioned.
“Now, that is vital, as a result of Israel desires to keep up management over town of Rafah in southern Gaza. In response to the Israeli minister of defence, Israel plans to construct a tent metropolis in Rafah, the place it is going to focus the inhabitants, management who enters, not enable anybody to depart, after which push the inhabitants out of Gaza to implement, in response to the Israelis, the Trump plan of depopulating Gaza and taking on the enclave,” she added.
The plan outlined by the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, requires the preliminary forcible switch of some 600,000 Palestinians to the tent metropolis, adopted by the rest of the enclave’s 2.1 million folks.
Critics say the plan would then result in Palestinians being forcibly transferred to different international locations.
Annelle Sheline, a analysis fellow within the Center East programme on the Quincy Institute, described the tent cities as “focus camps” and mentioned the Trump administration is unlikely to intervene within the Israeli plan.
“Washington has vital affect over the small print, though we did see Trump demure when requested if he would help the switch of the involuntary switch of Palestinians out of Gaza, saying that folks ought to look to Nanyahu for that,” Sheline mentioned.
“We all know the folks Trump surrounds himself with are typically sycophants and individuals who inform him what he likes to listen to. So I don’t anticipate there are numerous folks in Trump’s orbit who’re telling him, not solely would this be a horrific crime towards humanity, to not solely facilitate genocide, however then switch the survivors outdoors of their land,” she mentioned, including that each one of it additionally does “implicate the US”.
For his half, Trump has strongly supported Netanyahu, even wading into home Israeli politics by criticising prosecutors over a corruption trial towards the Israeli chief on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust fees, which Netanyahu denies.
Netanyahu has in the meantime praised Trump, saying that there has by no means been nearer coordination between the US and Israel in his nation’s historical past, and even nominated the US chief for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel’s warfare in Gaza has killed no less than 57,575 Palestinians and wounded 136,879 others. Most of Gaza’s inhabitants has been displaced by the warfare, and practically half one million persons are dealing with famine inside months, in response to United Nations estimates.
An estimated 1,139 folks had been killed in Israel throughout the Hamas-led assaults of October 7, 2023, and greater than 200 had been taken captive.
Some 50 captives stay in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.
