Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Monday with President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss the next phase of the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal, as fears of Israeli regional attacks increase.
Mr. Netanyahu will meet with Mr. Rubio at 10 a.m. and Mr. Trump at 1 p.m. at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida. The meeting will be Mr. Netanyahu’s fifth with Mr. Trump this year.
The leaders are expected to discuss the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, now more than four months old, which ended a two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas. The war began in October 2023 when Hamas launched a surprise terror attack on southern Israel Hamas, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.
The initial phase of the agreement is largely completed, with Israel’s military pulled back to designated areas and all living hostages released by Hamas. The Palestinian militant group has yet to release the body of its last hostage, saying it has had trouble finding the remains.
The second phase of the Gaza deal is supposed to create an independent governing body for the region made up of nonaligned Palestinian technocrats to replace Hamas. Additionally, an international stabilization force made up of thousands of troops is also intended to take charge of security in Gaza.
According to the plan, the force would be made up of Arab, European and U.S. troops. However, Mr. Rubio has insisted that the force will be composed of troops only from countries that Israel is comfortable with, giving Jerusalem a level of control some in the region may be uncomfortable with.
U.S. officials have suggested that the composition of the force could be announced as soon as January.
Certain goals of the first phase of the agreement have been met, but others remain unfulfilled.
Notably, Hamas has outright refused to disarm, one of the key measures in the 20-point agreement, and Israel has remained reluctant to further withdraw from the more than 50% of Gaza it controls or allow the free movement of aid.
In addition to Gaza, Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu will likely discuss Israel’s relations with the rest of the Middle East, notably Iran and Syria.
Recently, Israeli leaders have accused Iran of rapidly expanding its ballistic missile program to attack Israel. Mr. Netanyahu may try to persuade Mr. Trump to allow Israeli forces to prevent Iran from rebuilding or expanding its ballistic missile capabilities, which were severely damaged in Tehran’s 12-day war with Israel and the U.S. in June.
Iran has ramped up its aggressive rhetoric against the U.S., with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian proclaiming on Saturday that his country is engaged in a full-scale war with the U.S., Europe and Israel.
In Syria, U.S. diplomats are trying to broker a stability agreement between Jerusalem and Damascus that could create a more stable environment for the new Syrian government.
In spite of the close relationship between the new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and the Trump administration, Israeli officials have remained skeptical of Damascus’ ability to curb extremism and protect ethnic minorities within its borders.
Israel’s military still occupies a large area of southern Syria that it has used as a staging ground for military operations. Over the last year, Israel’s military has conducted more than 1,000 strikes against what it says are terrorists in Syria. Israel also conducted strikes against Syria’s military over the summer to protect Druze minority members in southern Syria.
Mr. al-Sharaa has said he wants no major conflict with Israel and has insisted the strikes have done nothing to improve the security of the region.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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