Will peace in Gaza hold? Eyes on Netanyahu-Trump meeting in Washington DC

The meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday is critical for the peace in the Gaza Strip and the direction West Asia will take in the coming time.

Netanyahu and Trump are expected to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza, the normalisation of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and the Iranian nuclear programme. Netanyahu held a meeting with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Special Envoy for Middle East, on Monday.

Netanyahu’s visit comes at a time when negotiations for the second phase of the deal between Israel and Hamas are supposed to start. In this phase, the remaining hostages are supposed to be released in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. While Arab nations have called for the permanent end of the war and complete Israeli withdrawal, Netanyahu has said Israel would reserve the right to resume the war at any point.

Will Gaza ceasefire hold?

It is an open secret that Netanyahu has been eager to resume the war in Gaza even if it means condemning the remaining hostages to near-certain deaths.

Such an eagerness is rooted in Netanyahu’s political survival. His Likud party does not have a clear majority in the parliament and he depends on far-right allies to stay in power . One of them, Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to overthrow the government if the war does not resume.

“The moment I realise there’s no intention to resume fighting, I will not only resign, but overthrow the government,” Smotrich told Bloomberg News.

The Jerusalem Post has previously reported that Netanyahu and Smotrich have reached a deal to break the deal with Hamas after the first phase and resume the war. The newspaper reported the deal includes the usage of weapons heavier than those used so far and the control of aid entering Gaza and restricting its flow.

The only element reining in Netanyahu’s extremist streaks so far has been the United States. Even though Trump promised to end the war in West Asia on the campaign trail and Witkoff has said Trump intends for the ceasefire in Gaza to advance to phase two, Trump has signalled that he may be okay with the resumption of the war. Shortly after assuming office, he said he was “not confident” the ceasefire in Gaza would hold . He said on Monday that there were “no guarantees that the Gaza ceasefire will hold”.

However, there were signs that Israel —at least for now— intends to play by the rules. Following the meeting with Witkoff, Netanyahu’s office said a government delegation will travel to Qatar later this week “to discuss technical details related to the continued implementation of the agreement”, according to Bloomberg.

Upon his return to Israel, Netanyahu “will convene the Security Cabinet to discuss Israel’s overall positions regarding the second stage of the deal, which will guide the continuation of the negotiations”, the office further said.

Netanyahu pressing for temporary ceasefire’s extension: Report

Instead of advancing the ceasefire to the second phase, which would amount to a step in the directing of the permanent end of the war, Netanyahu has been pressing the Trump administration for the extension of phase of the deal, meaning the continuation of the release of three to four hostages every week without, according to The Post.

“The hostage deal talks will be conducted in a completely different way than what we have seen until now. We are returning to shuttle diplomacy, where Witkoff will be the main mediator. He will talk with the Israelis, Qataris, and Egyptians,” an Israeli official told the newspaper.

A second source indicated that Trump is not fully convinced of the approach yet. The source told the newspaper that “Israel will need to convince the president that there is a way to release more hostages without ending the war… that’s the main goal of [Netanyahu] – to [lay out] a path that is fast and simple to achieve this goal.”

Qatar urges Trump to support ceasefire deal

Amid indications that Trump may be onboard with Netanyahu in resuming the war, Qatar, which mediated the deal between Israel and Hamas, urged Trump to support the ceasefire deal.

“We are counting on President Trump and the administration to give the clear message that they are behind the negotiation process and they are behind phase two and that they will support this process throughout the peacemaking,” Qatari Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told Breitbart News.

Al-Ansari said that Qatar hopes “Trump will convey to Prime Minister Netanyahu how he believes in the mediation process, he believes in bringing the hostages back home, and he believes that the negotiations should go forward”.

Al-Ansari further said, “We hope that upon returning to Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu will immediately dispatch his negotiation team to Doha to begin the phase 2 talks with [US Mideast envoy] Steve Witkoff and the negotiations continue.”