Israel-Gaza negotiations: what is in the Middle East at the game

Israel’s head of government Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump and his Middle East sent Steve Witkoff. “This is an important meeting that strengthens the deep alliance between Israel and the United States and will improve our cooperation,” wrote the Israeli UN ambassador Danny Danon, who received Netanyahu at the airport, on Sunday evening (local time) on the platform X.

Today, according to the Israeli Prime Minister in Washington’s office, negotiations on the next phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas are to begin.

According to his office, Netanyahu will first meet Witkoff and talk about Israel’s negotiating position. “The really serious negotiations on the second phase” of the Agreement with Hamas would only start with Trump after talking, said a high-ranking Israeli official on the US news page “Axios”. “Nothing important will happen before.”

The conversation with Trump is said to take place on Tuesday, and so far no details about the program have been officially announced. Netanyahu announced that he would talk to Trump, among other things, “about a victory over the Hamas”.

In Israel, the relatives of the hostages captured in the Gaza Strip are particularly afraid that the second phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas agreed in January may not be implemented at all-and therefore many of the kidnapped people are not released. Netanyahu’s right -wing extremist coalition partners urge the resumption of the war.

According to media reports, Trump and Netanyahu also strive for a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia, which has the archenemy Iran in common with Israel. Trump had launched the so-called Abraham Agreement on the normalization of relationships between Israel and several Arab countries during his first term-a historical breakthrough at that time. In October 2023, the approaching rapprochement with Saudi Arabia was suddenly ended by the massacre of Hamas and other Islamist terrorists in southern Israel.

According to reports from the Russian news agencies Tass and Ria Novosti, a Hamas delegation under the direction of the deputy political office boss Mussa Abu Marsuk will arrive in Moscow today. The Kremlin guests wanted to inform the Russian side about progress in the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza War, Tass wrote, citing a source in the Hamas leadership. It is also planned to ask Russia to help relieve the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army is expanding its commitment in northern West Bank and is now also active in Tamun. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli floor troops and bulldozer have penetrated into a raid in refugee districts in the area. The Israeli army announced that it had found weapons in the place. In Dschenin, which is around 25 kilometers further north, the military continues against militant Palestinians.

In its use in the north of the West Bank, which started in January, Israel’s military has so far killed 50 militant forces, 15 of them with air strikes. More than 100 suspects are arrested, dozens of weapons were confiscated and hundreds of explosive devices were destroyed. The information cannot be checked independently.

Palestinian media report that Israel’s army blew up 20 buildings in Dschenin. The Israeli military confirmed that they have destroyed 23 buildings in the city of the city, which were used, among other things, to produce explosives or as a armor. Recordings showed how dark smoke lay over the city after the buildings were blown up. Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas also called for an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council in view of the “destruction of entire apartment blocks” in Dschenin and in Tulkarem.

The ban on activity criticized by Germany, among others, for the Palestinian Aid Work in Urwa in Israel, the European Union continues to worry. The ban also had far-reaching consequences for the work of the organization in the Gaza Strip, in West Bank and in East Jerusalem, explained the EU foreign representative Kaja Kallas. The EU was determined to continue to support the UN aid work so that it could meet its mandate.

Despite the ban on work that has been in effect since Thursday, the organization continues for the time being, according to the UN information. Unrwa clinics in the entire West Bank and in East Jerusalem are still open.