Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hold Talks with President Donald Trump in US During Fears of Israeli Regional Offensives
The Israeli premier is set to meet the US president at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday evening. This comes as anxieties mount that Israel could launch new military actions against neighboring adversaries, risking sending the Middle East further into turmoil.
The Israeli leader left Israel on Sunday, marking his fifth visit to see Trump in the United States in the current year.
Truce in Gaza and Looming Hurdles
A top priority will be the truce in Gaza, which in October stopped the devastating two-year war. While the stipulations for an first stage have been for the most part fulfilled, with Israeli forces pulling back to new positions and Hamas freeing all living and almost all of the deceased hostages, significant challenges confront the execution of the second phase of the US-brokered 20-point plan.
There are additionally apprehensions that Israel will undertake new strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, shattering a ceasefire established more than a year ago, or against Iran, which it claims of accelerating the manufacture of ballistic missiles in recent months.
“Phase 1 is practically over, there’s one remaining Israeli deceased hostage which [Hamas] are having difficulty finding,” commented a peace-building expert.
Each party accuse each other of breaking the truce. Hamas has declined to clearly commit to laying down its weapons and has had notable achievements in asserting its control in the parts of Gaza where the vast majority of population is located. Israel appears hesitant to withdraw from the 53% of Gaza it now controls or to permit the unhindered flow of aid into the territory.
“The second phase has to begin … and I think the Americans realise that it’s late because Hamas has had too much time to reorganize and this is certainly not a situation that the Americans want to allow to continue,” the expert stated.
Humanitarian Impact and Current Conditions
More than 70,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, lost their lives in Gaza during the war and almost all the territory’s 2.3 million population was uprooted. Roughly 400 Palestinians have perished in Gaza since the October ceasefire, and a great many continue to live in conditions of acute hardship.
In recent weeks, torrential rains and freezing conditions have worsened the misery in Gaza, where the majority of housing and infrastructure have been severely damaged or destroyed.
The war was triggered by a unexpected offensive by Hamas in southern Israel in 2023, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 others taken hostage.
Next Stages and Political Frustrations
Under the subsequent phases of the roadmap, an provisional government made up of unaffiliated Palestinian specialists is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas. An global security contingent of thousands of troops is to be stationed.
US officials have suggested the make-up of the new authority could be revealed in January.
Reports indicate that senior US officials are increasingly exasperated “as Netanyahu has taken steps to sabotage the unstable peace and stall the peace process”.
“There are more and more signs that the American administration is getting exasperated with Netanyahu,” commented a foreign policy specialist. “The question is what it’s going to do about it, because phase 2 is right now going nowhere fast.”
Netanyahu's Main Goals
For Netanyahu, a main goal will be urging Trump to allow Israel to act to prevent Iran from repairing the damage inflicted on its nuclear programme or expanding its ballistic missile capabilities.
Meanwhile, efforts to secure a stability deal between Israel and Syria have stalled and will also be on the agenda at Mar-a-Lago. Israeli officials have also called for more concerted action to disarm Hezbollah.
Netanyahu faces an election within 10 months, and the upcoming polls will affect his agenda. “Everything is connected to [his] remaining in office,” an analyst said.
Surveys indicate Netanyahu’s current coalition would have a hard time to form a government if elections were held now. Many voters are frustrated over the shortcomings that led to the 2023 Hamas raid, moves concerning military service exemptions, and a string of controversies.
A strong bond with Trump would reinforce Netanyahu’s appeal among swing voters and his base. This suggests any visible discord between the two leaders is very doubtful, analysts said.
Netanyahu is expected to seek to make the case to Trump of the need for Israel to maintain a defence advantage over potential regional enemies. Many Israeli officials were alarmed by past US comments regarding advanced weapons sales to other regional states.
