US president Donald Trump will meet Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night, the second meeting between the two leaders in 24 hours, raising speculation that a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal may be close.
In advance of talks at the White House on Monday night, Mr Trump said it was his impression that Hamas wants a deal.
US envoy Steve Witkoff, who will fly to Qatar this week to join the Israel-Hamas proximity talks, said: “We have an opportunity to finally get a peace deal.”
Under discussion is a two-month truce, during which 10 of the remaining 20 hostages believed to still be alive will be released; Israeli forces will withdraw from most of Gaza and there will be a surge in humanitarian aid.
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Negotiations will begin on a permanent end to the war, with Hamas seeking assurances from Mr Trump that the talks will continue if no agreement is reached within 60 days.
The majority of the Israeli public supports ending the war in Gaza and there was another reminder of the high cost of the 21-month military operation when five soldiers were killed on Monday in a Hamas ambush in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.
Mr Netanyahu is not opposed to ending the war, provided it ends under conditions that include the dismantlement of Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities.
A senior Israeli official said that 80–90 per cent of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas has already been agreed, but that the negotiations may take more than a few days, and he spelled out Israel’s vision of a postwar Gaza.
“The finishing picture of the war in Gaza – no Hamas,” he said. “Hamas has laid down its arms, its men have surrendered, and its leaders have been exiled. That is the finishing picture, when another force has taken control over the strip – the Palestinian Authority, no; but local clans and possibly Fatah operatives, yes.”
Defence minister Israel Katz has instructed the army to prepare a plan to establish a “humanitarian city” in Rafah, which would eventually house the entire population of the Gaza Strip, in a move condemned by human rights groups as forced population transfer and a war crime.
Mr Netanyahu was asked at the beginning of his meeting on Monday with Mr Trump whether the plan to permanently relocate Palestinians from Gaza was still on the agenda.
He replied by saying that the decision would be left to the residents themselves.
“President Trump had a brilliant vision. It’s called free choice. The people who want to stay – they can stay. But if they want to leave, they should be able to leave. It shouldn’t be a prison.”
