Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will discuss "victory over Hamas", countering Iran and expanding diplomatic relations with Arab countries in his meeting with US President Donald Trump.Tuesday's meeting at the White House will be Trump's first with a foreign leader since returning to office.It comes as US and Arab mediators begin the daunting work of brokering the next phase of an agreement to wind down the war in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of militant-held hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem on December 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, Pool, File)Hamas, which has quickly reasserted its control over Gaza since the ceasefire took hold last month, has said it will not release the hostages slated to go free in the second phase without an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from far-right governing partners to resume the war after the first phase ends in early March. He has said Israel is still committed to victory over Hamas and the return of all the hostages captured in the militants' October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.It's unclear where Trump stands. He has been a staunch supporter of Israel, but has also pledged to end wars in the Middle East and took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire agreement.
Family of Israeli hostage Ofer Kalderon react as they watch the broadcast of him being released from Hamas captivity, in Kfra Saba, southern Israel, Saturday February 1, 2025, as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)The deal has halted the fighting and led to the release of 18 hostages who had been held for over 15 months, as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.An Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in central Gaza wounded five people on Sunday, including a child who was in critical condition, according to Al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The Israeli military said it fired upon the vehicle because it was bypassing a checkpoint while heading north in violation of the ceasefire agreement. The military said it remains committed to the deal.
Freed Palestinian prisoners are greeted by a crowd as they arrive in the Gaza Strip after being released from an Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, on Saturday February 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Netanyahu embraces Trump's call for 'peace through strength'
In a statement released ahead of his departure on Sunday, Netanyahu said they would discuss "victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components", referring to Iran's alliance of militant groups across the region, including Hamas.He said that by working together, they could "strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace and achieve a remarkable era of peace through strength".The war began when thousands of Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostage. More than 100 hostages were freed during a week-long ceasefire in November 2023, eight have been rescued alive and dozens of bodies have been recovered by Israeli forces.
Israelis watch a broadcast of the release of Israelis Ofer Kalderon, 53, and Yarden Bibas, 34, and American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65 set to be released as part of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday February 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)Israel's air and ground war has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities who do not say how many of the dead were fighters. The war has left large parts of several cities in ruins and displaced about 90 per cent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people.Under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is to release a total of 33 hostages, eight of whom Hamas says are dead, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces have pulled back from most areas and allowed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to devastated northern Gaza.Negotiations on the second phase, in which the war would end and the remaining 60 or so hostages would be returned, are set to begin on Monday. If the US, Qatar and Egypt are unable to broker an agreement between Israel and Hamas, the war could resume in early March.
Freed Palestinian prisoners wave from a bus as they arrive in the Gaza Strip after being released from an Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, on Saturday February 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Aspirations for a bigger deal
Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, joined the year-long ceasefire negotiations in their final weeks last month and helped push the agreement over the finish line. He met with Netanyahu in Israel last week and the two were expected to formally begin talks on the second phase in Washington on Monday.Trump, who brokered normalisation agreements between Israel and four Arab countries in his first term, is believed to be seeking a wider and potentially historic agreement in which Israel would forge ties with Saudi Arabia.But the kingdom, which resisted similar entreaties from the Biden administration, has said it would only agree to such a deal if the war ends and there is a credible pathway to a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.Netanyahu's government is opposed to Palestinian statehood, and a key partner, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to leave the governing coalition if the war is not resumed next month. That would raise the likelihood of early elections in which Netanyahu could be voted out.In pictures: Celebrations erupt after ceasefire announcedView Gallery
Violence in the West Bank
Even as the Gaza ceasefire has held for two weeks, Israel has ramped up operations in the occupied West Bank. On Sunday, the military said it was expanding an operation focused on the volatile city of Jenin to the town of Tamun.The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 73-year-old man was shot dead by Israeli troops in Jenin early Sunday. There was no immediate comment from the military.The ministry had earlier reported five killed, including a 16-year-old, in Israeli airstrikes overnight.The military said it killed two militants — one of whom had been freed as part of the weeklong Gaza ceasefire in November 2023 — in an airstrike on a village near Jenin. It said the two were planning an imminent attack, and that additional strikes targeted two other militant cells.The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since the start of the war in Gaza, with Israel launching near-daily military arrest raids. There has also been a rise in settler violence against Palestinians and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
