Netanyahu to meet Trump in US amid fears of Israeli regional offensives | Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Donald Trump at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday evening, amid growing fears that Israel could further destabilize the Middle East by launching new attacks against regional foes.

Israeli prime minister left Israel on Sunday He is on his fifth visit to the US this year to see Trump.

High on the agenda will be the ceasefire in Gaza, which brought a devastating two-year war to a halt in October. Although the agreed terms for the first phase have largely been completed, with Israeli forces withdrawing to new positions and Hamas releasing all but one living hostage, we face major challenges in implementing the second phase of the president’s 20-point plan.

It is also feared that Israel will break the ceasefire established more than a year ago and launch new attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon or Iran, which it accuses of accelerating the production of ballistic missiles in recent months.

Gershon Baskin, co-chairman of the peacebuilding commission of the Alliance for Two States, which is involved in back-channel negotiations with Hamas, said the timing of Netanyahu’s visit was “very important” for Gaza.

“Phase 1 is basically over, there is one dead Israeli hostage left. [Hamas] “We are having difficulty finding it,” he said.

Both sides accuse each other of violating the ceasefire. Hamas has clearly failed in its commitment to disarmament and has had significant success in imposing its authority in nearly all of the populated areas of Gaza. Israel appears reluctant to withdraw from the 53 percent of Gaza it currently controls or to allow free passage of aid into the region.

“Phase 2 needs to start… and I think the Americans realized it was late because Hamas had so much time to re-establish its existence, and that’s certainly not a situation the Americans want to let go of,” Baskin said.

More than 70,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, died in Gaza during the war, and nearly all of the region’s 2.3 million population was displaced. Nearly 400 Palestinians lost their lives Since the ceasefire in October, many people in Gaza continue to live in serious difficulties.

Heavy rains and cold weather in recent weeks have compounded the suffering in Gaza, where most homes and infrastructure have been severely damaged or destroyed.

The war was triggered by Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel in 2023; In this attack, 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 people were kidnapped.

In later stages of Trump’s plan, instead of Hamas, an interim authority of non-aligned Palestinian technocrats will govern the Palestinian territories, and an international stabilization force (ISF) of thousands of soldiers will be deployed.

Hamas’ armed wing reiterated on Monday that it would not surrender its weapons.

“Our people are defending themselves and will not give up their weapons as long as the occupation continues,” the new spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which adopted the name of his late predecessor Abu Ubeida, said in a video statement.

US officials have suggested that the structure of the new authority could be announced in January.

on friday, US news source Axios He reported that senior Trump officials were disappointed “that Netanyahu has taken steps that would undermine the fragile ceasefire and halt the peace process.” Analysts in Israel and abroad agree.

“There are more and more signs that the American administration is uncomfortable with Netanyahu,” said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert from the London-based think tank Chatham House.

“The question is what to do about it, because phase 2 is going nowhere right now,” Mekelberg added.

The priority for Netanyahu will be to persuade Trump to allow Israel to take action to prevent Iran from repairing damage to its nuclear program or developing ballistic missile capabilities in its brief war with Israel and the United States this summer.

Iranian president Massoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country was in a full-scale war with the United States, Israel and Europe. He added that the conflict was “more complex and more difficult” than the Iran-Iraq war, in which more than 1 million people lost their lives on both sides.

Meanwhile, Israeli local media said efforts to secure a security agreement between Israel and Syria had failed to make significant progress and would also be on the agenda at Mar-a-Lago. Israeli officials also called for more effective efforts to disarm Hezbollah in accordance with Lebanon’s 2024 ceasefire.

Mekelberg said Netanyahu faces an election in 10 months and upcoming polls will affect his agenda. “Everything is connected [his] “To stay in power,” he said.

Surveys Show Netanyahu’s current coalition It would struggle to form a government if elections were held now, with many voters angry over the failures that led to the Hamas crackdown in 2023, moves to continue exempting most ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from compulsory military service in Israel, and a series of scandals among other issues.

Analysts said a close relationship with Trump would strengthen Netanyahu’s appeal with undecided voters and his base, making any public disagreement between the two leaders extremely unlikely.

Netanyahu is expected to try to convince Trump that Israel, which is dependent on the United States for most of its defense needs, should maintain its military technological superiority over potential regional enemies. Trump’s statement that he would allow the sale of F-35 warplanes to Saudi Arabia this year shook many Israeli officials. “great ally”. The state-of-the-art stealth aircraft was key to Israel’s success against Iran in this summer’s war.