Israel’s Netanyahu travels to US to discuss Gaza ceasefire with Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is traveling to the United States to discuss the second phase of a ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian organization Hamas in Gaza with US officials. Netanyahu's office stated that negotiations regarding the second phase of the ceasefire will begin on Monday in Washington, D.C., when Netanyahu travels to the US.

US President Donald Trump, who has claimed credit for the ceasefire agreement signed on January 19, is expected to host Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday. This will be Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader since his re-election. Netanyahu's visit to the US comes two weeks after the start of the first phase of the ceasefire, which is planned to release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The second phase is expected to cover the release of the remaining hostages and discussions on a more permanent end to the war.

According to local health authorities, the Gaza ceasefire ended a 15-month conflict by Israel in the Gaza Strip that resulted in the deaths of more than 47,000 Palestinians, over half of whom were women and children. Before departing from Tel Aviv airport, Netanyahu stated that he and Trump would discuss “defeating Hamas, achieving the release of all hostages, and dealing with Iran's terror axis in the Middle East.”

Netanyahu stated that he would be the first foreign leader to meet with Trump since his inauguration, which "says a lot." He said, "I think it demonstrates the strength of the alliance between Israel and the United States." This is also Netanyahu's first visit to the US since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him in November for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The United States is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC. Previously, the US had praised the ICC's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. Currently, senior US politicians are attempting to sanction the ICC over the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and are threatening to blacklist the court's senior prosecutors and their families.

Trump and Netanyahu’s resolve in advancing the ceasefire remains to be seen. Netanyahu is facing immense pressure from his far-right government partners who are demanding that the agreement be abandoned after the first phase and that attacks on Gaza be resumed. On Trump's side, he has sent mixed signals about the prospect of a permanent end to the war. On January 20, shortly after being sworn in, when asked if he had confidence in the Gaza ceasefire, he said, "I have no confidence." He also added, "This is not our war, it's their war."

Recently, Trump has also proposed an ethnic “cleansing” of Gaza, insisting that the Arab nations of Egypt and Jordan should take in displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, a prospect that they have unanimously rejected. Scott Lucas, a professor of international politics at University College Dublin, told Al Jazeera that the second phase of the Gaza agreement faces pressure from multiple sides. He said that only if the elements of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement can remain in place will the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and the Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails be released.

“Here you're talking about a four-way pressure around Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump,” he said. Pressure from the Israeli hard right, particularly from within the cabinet, from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. “They don't want a second phase. They want a military government in Gaza, they want the displacement of Palestinians, and they're actually talking about a return to war.”

In addition, there is pressure from some within Israel who believe the priority should be the return of all hostages. On the other hand, Lucas said that Hamas will continue to resist Israeli efforts to remove the group from Gaza, and Palestinians reject military occupation. “The fourth is Donald Trump, who wants to be a peacemaker, but he also is so firmly supportive of Israel that his solution to bring peace is to send all the people of Gaza to Egypt and Jordan. So, at this point, there is no way to reconcile these four to get to a second phase.”

The agenda during Netanyahu's visit may also include Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Smotrich, who opposes the ceasefire and strongly supports the settlements, has urged Netanyahu to raise the issue. "We must strengthen our control and sovereignty over our homes in Judea and Samaria," Smotrich said in a message to Netanyahu, referring to the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu's early meeting with Trump marks a distinct shift in his relationship with the previous US administration. Although the US is Israel’s largest arms supplier, the previous administration had criticized Israel’s war conduct and suspended some military shipments. Trump has declared himself the most pro-Israel president in US history and has appointed senior diplomats who openly support the far-right factions in Israel, including their moves to annex the occupied West Bank.