Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu will leave for Washington at the weekend amid indications that a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal could be close after almost 21 months of fighting.
His planned meeting with US president Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday will be the third time they have met since Trump took office in January.
Speaking about the visit outside the White House on Tuesday Trump sounded optimistic that a breakthrough was close.
“We hope [a ceasefire] is going to happen and we’re looking for it to happen sometime next week,” he said. “We want to get our hostages back.”
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He added that they would also discuss “the great success we had in Iran”.
Netanyahu believes the 12-day war with Iran has also opened the way for a possible deal to end the Gaza war, telling cabinet ministers on Monday “exploiting success is no less important than achieving success”.
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Despite the optimistic noises, neither Israel nor Hamas have changed the fundamental negotiating positions that appear to be holding up an agreement. Israel has still not committed to ending the war as part of a ceasefire deal and Hamas has not agreed to disarm or to the exile of its leaders from Gaza.
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The war began after 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken into captivity during a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7th, 2033. Fifty hostages remain in captivity, of whom 20 are believed to be alive. Israel’s military assault has killed more than 56,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) controls almost 75 per cent of Gaza. The military has told political leaders that a decision needs to be taken either to end Israel’s longest war with a deal or to order an expansion of the operation.
However, IDF chief of staff Ltn Gen Eyal Zamir has warned ministers that an escalation in the fighting would endanger the hostages’ lives. “There’s a conflict between the hostages and continuing the manoeuvre. We might endanger the hostages. There’s been worse abuse of the hostages. Their condition is very bad,” he said.
Far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich responded angrily to the general’s remarks. Ben Gvir said that more pressure would help to free the hostages, not harm them. Smotrich said: “We want the hostages too, but we aren’t prepared to forsake the entire country. The IDF is steering the political echelon towards what to decide.”
Opposition parties have offered Netanyahu a parliamentary safety net if he brings a Gaza ceasefire to a Knesset vote in defiance of his far-right coalition partners.
