Netanyahu said Israel\u2019s wartime decisions reshaped the Middle East, with Trump\u2019s support, it could go further
\n tel aviv
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to begin talks Monday on a second phase of the ceasefire with Hamas as he visits the new Trump administration in Washington.
\nBefore departing, Netanyahu told reporters he would discuss \u201cvictory over Hamas\u201d, countering Iran and freeing all hostages when he meets President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
\nIt will be Trump\u2019s first meeting with a foreign leader since returning to the White House in January, a prioritisation Netanyahu described as \u201ctelling\u201d.
\n\u201cI think it\u2019s a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance,\u201d he said before boarding his flight.
\nWith fragile ceasefires holding in both Gaza and Lebanon \u2013 where an Israeli campaign badly weakened Iran-backed Hezbollah \u2013 Israel has recently turned its focus to the occupied West Bank, where an operation it says is aimed at rooting out extremism has killed dozens.
\nNetanyahu said Israel\u2019s wartime decisions had reshaped the Middle East and that, with Trump\u2019s support, this could go even further.
\n\u201cI believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it (the Middle East\u2019s map) even further and for the better.\u201d
\nTrump, who has claimed credit for sealing the ceasefire deal after 15 months of war, said Sunday that negotiations with Israel and other countries in the Middle East were \u201cprogressing\u201d.
\n\u201cBibi Netanyahu\u2019s coming on Tuesday, and I think we have some very big meetings scheduled,\u201d Trump said.
\nNetanyahu\u2019s office said he would begin discussions with Trump\u2019s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Monday over terms for the second phase of the Gaza truce.
\nThe next stage is expected to cover the release of the remaining captives and include discussions on a more permanent end to the war.
\nTrump has repeatedly touted a plan to \u201cclean out\u201d Gaza, calling for Palestinians to move to neighbouring countries such as Egypt or Jordan.
\nQatar, which jointly mediated the ceasefire along with the United States and Egypt, underscored the importance of allowing Palestinians to \u201creturn to their homes and land\u201d.
\nIran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, meanwhile, warned Monday that relocating Gazans \u201cwould be tantamount to ethnic cleansing\u201d.
\nSaudi angle
\nUnder the Gaza ceasefire\u2019s first, 42-day phase, Hamas is to free 33 hostages in staggered releases in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
\nFour hostage-prisoner exchanges have already taken place, and the truce has led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza.
\nHamas took 251 hostages, 91 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.
\nThe attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
\nIsrael\u2019s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,498 people in Gaza, a majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory\u2019s health ministry, figures which the UN considers reliable.
\nWhile Trump\u2019s predecessor Joe Biden sustained Washington\u2019s military and diplomatic backing of Israel, it also criticised the mounting death toll and aid restrictions.
\nTrump moved quickly to reset relations.
\nIn one of his first acts back in office, he lifted sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians and reportedly approved a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs that the Biden administration had blocked.
\nThe ceasefire discussions in Washington are expected to also cover concessions Netanyahu must accept to revive normalisation efforts with Saudi Arabia after Riyadh froze discussions early in the Gaza war.
\nTrump believes \u201cthat he must stabilise the region first and create an anti-Iran coalition with his strategic partners\u201d, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, said David Khalfa, a researcher at the Jean Jaures Foundation in Paris.
\nJenin operation
\nOn the ground, Israel said Sunday it has killed at least 50 fighters and detained more than 100 \u201cwanted individuals\u201d during its ongoing operation in the West Bank.
\nThe offensive began on January 21, with the Israeli military saying it aimed to root out Palestinian groups from the Jenin area.
\nOn Sunday, Palestinian official news agency WAFA said Israeli forces \u201csimultaneously detonated about 20 buildings\u201d in the eastern part of Jenin refugee camp, adding that the \u201cexplosions were heard throughout Jenin city and parts of the neighbouring towns\u201d.
\nOn Monday, the Palestinian presidency denounced the operation in the territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
\nIn a statement, spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the Palestinian presidency \u201ccondemned the occupation authorities\u2019 expansion of their comprehensive war on our Palestinian people in the West Bank to implement their plans aimed at displacing citizens and ethnic cleansing\u201d.
\nThe Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces had killed 70 people in the West Bank since the start of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Netanyahu said Israel\u2019s wartime decisions reshaped the Middle East, with Trump\u2019s support, it could go further tel aviv Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to begin talks Monday on a second phase of the ceasefire with Hamas as he visits the new Trump administration in Washington. Before departing, Netanyahu told reporters he would discuss […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-459421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n