Netanyahu to Meet President Donald Trump in US Amid Concerns of Israeli Regional Military Actions
Benjamin Netanyahu is due to sit down with Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday evening. This takes place as anxieties increase that Israel could initiate new operations against regional foes, risking dragging the Middle East further into turmoil.
The prime minister departed Israel on Sunday, marking his fifth trip to see Trump in the United States this year.
Ceasefire in Gaza and Upcoming Challenges
High on the agenda will be the halt in hostilities in Gaza, which in October halted the destructive two-year war. While the conditions for an opening period have been mostly met, with Israeli forces withdrawing to new positions and Hamas freeing the surviving and nearly all of the deceased hostages, enormous challenges face the implementation of the next stage of the US-brokered 20-point plan.
There are further concerns that Israel will undertake new offensives against Hezbollah in Lebanon, shattering a ceasefire established more than a year ago, or against Iran, which it alleges of speeding up the production of ballistic missiles in the past few months.
“Phase 1 is basically over, there’s one remaining Israeli deceased hostage which [Hamas] are having difficulty finding,” said a peace-building expert.
Both sides blame one another of breaking the truce. Hamas has declined to formally commit to disarmament and has had significant success in imposing its authority in the parts of Gaza where almost all population is located. Israel seems unwilling to pull out from the 53% of Gaza it now controls or to enable the unhindered flow of aid into the region.
“Phase 2 has to begin … and I think the Americans realise that it’s late because Hamas has had too much time to rebuild its strength and this is absolutely not a situation that the Americans want to leave in place,” the expert stated.
Humanitarian Impact and Present Situation
More than 70,000 Palestinians, largely civilians, were killed in Gaza during the war and nearly the entire the territory’s 2.3 million population was uprooted. Roughly 400 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the October ceasefire, and a great many continue to live in conditions of severe deprivation.
In the last month, downpours and chilly weather have exacerbated the suffering in Gaza, where most housing and infrastructure have been heavily damaged or razed.
The war was sparked by a sudden assault by Hamas in southern Israel in 2023, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 others taken hostage.
Subsequent Phases and Diplomatic Tensions
Under the next stages of the roadmap, an transitional administration made up of nonaligned Palestinian technocrats is to run the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas. An multinational peacekeeping force of thousands of troops is to be deployed.
US officials have indicated the composition of the new authority could be announced in January.
Reports indicate that senior US officials are increasingly exasperated “as Netanyahu has taken steps to undermine the delicate truce and delay the peace process”.
“There are more and more signs that the American administration is getting frustrated with Netanyahu,” said a Middle East expert. “The question is what it’s going to do about it, because the second phase is right now going nowhere fast.”
The Prime Minister's Main Goals
For Netanyahu, a key objective will be convincing Trump to allow Israel to act to prevent Iran from rebounding inflicted on its nuclear programme or building its ballistic missile capabilities.
Meanwhile, efforts to secure a defence pact between Israel and Syria have failed to make significant progress and will also be on the agenda at Mar-a-Lago. Israeli officials have also called for more decisive measures to disarm Hezbollah.
Netanyahu faces an election within 10 months, and the upcoming polls will influence his agenda. “Everything is connected to [his] remaining in office,” an analyst said.
Opinion surveys show Netanyahu’s current coalition would struggle to form a government if elections were held now. Many voters are displeased over the failures that led to the 2023 Hamas raid, moves concerning military service exemptions, and a number of scandals.
A close relationship with Trump would reinforce Netanyahu’s appeal among floating voters and his base. This implies any open rift between the two leaders is extremely unlikely, 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 concerned by past US comments regarding advanced weapons sales to other regional states.
