Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet United States President, Donald Trump with the agenda to focus on the paused war in Gaza, as well as Iran.
According to sources, the two leaders are due to meet in the early afternoon on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
The meeting takes place as indirect negotiations between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas on the second phase of the fragile Gaza ceasefire agreement are due.
Netanyahu’s office announced on Tuesday that an Israeli negotiating team is preparing to travel to Qatar this weekend for talks on the second phase.
It said in a statement that the team will discuss “technical details related to continuing to carry out” the agreement.
Before departing for the US, the Israeli Prime Minister said that the focus of his meetings will be the goals set by Israel for the Gaza war.
Those include achieving total victory over Hamas and the release of all captives held in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Hamas appears to have quickly reasserted control over Gaza, emphasising that it will not release more captives during the second phase of the ceasefire if the Israeli side does not honour its commitments by ending its military occupation of the territory.
Netanyahu said that decisions made by Israel and the US during the war had already changed the face of the Middle East.
Meanwhile, he is likely to face pressure from Trump to hold fire.
While the US President is a staunch supporter of Israel, the ceasefire deal is also part of a wider regional strategy.
Trump and Netanyahu have both said they aim to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and to pull the latter into new regional arrangements to help create a bulwark against Iran.
The Israeli leader also emphasised “dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components” in reference to the Tehran-led “axis of resistance.”
However, the steadfast opposition of Netanyahu – who said on the eve of the trip that he hopes the meeting will help further redraw the map of the region – to any move towards a Palestinian state is a potential obstacle.
The Saudis have said that they would only agree to take part if the war in Gaza ends and there is a credible pathway to a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank.
Trump has already shown an increase in support for Israel, restarting supplies of 2,000-pound bombs and suggesting Palestinians should be moved from Gaza to neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan.
However, Iran will be high on his agenda.
Mira Resnick, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of state for Israeli and Palestinian affairs told a news agency that Trump may “have little patience for political woes of Netanyahu if it gets in the way of the broader goals of this administration.”
“The President started his term by saying that he wanted the ceasefire to be in place by January 20. That’s what he got. He is invested in this because he was able to take credit for it.”
Mira Resnick
Trump Admits Ceasefire Uncertain
Ahead of the meeting, Trump said that discussions with Israel and other countries on the Middle East were “progressing” but offered no details.
The US leader admitted, however, that the ceasefire is uncertain. “I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold,” he told reporters.
His Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who met with the Israeli leader on Monday, added, “We’re certainly hopeful.”
Trump has claimed credit for the ceasefire deal, which was signed before he took office on January 20, 2025.
However, the situation remains tense as Netanyahu is being pushed by far-right partners in the Israeli government to resume fighting.
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