Trump to meet Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago amid concerns over progress on fragile Gaza truce plan – live | Trump administration
Donald Trump to meet Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago
Good morning and welcome to our US politics blog where the focus is squarely on international conflicts today.
Just a day after hosting Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump will host Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago at 1pm ET.
It is the fifth meeting between the two leaders in the US this year and comes amid concerns over progress on Trump’s fragile Gaza truce plan.
Netanyahu and Trump will meet in Florida amid growing fears Israel could launch new offensives against regional enemies, potentially plunging the Middle East further into instability.
The Israeli prime minister left Israel on Sunday on his fifth visit to see Trump in the US this year.
High on the agenda will be the ceasefire in Gaza, which in October halted Israel’s devastating two-year-long military assault. Though the terms agreed for an initial phase have been largely completed, with Israel’s forces pulling back to new positions and Hamas releasing all living and all but one of the dead hostages, immense challenges face the implementation of the second phase of the president’s 20-point plan.
There are also fears Israel will launch new offensives against Hezbollah in Lebanon, breaking a ceasefire established more than a year ago, or against Iran, which it accuses of accelerating the manufacture of ballistic missiles in recent months.
There are fears in the White House that both Israel and Hamas are dragging their feet on the second phase of the ceasefire. But Trump says Netanyahu has asked for these talks, perhaps to put pressure on shifting focus to Iran. He may call for more US strikes on the Islamic republic.
We’ll have more over the coming hours.
Key events
Gaza ceasefire hinges on return of last Israeli hostage, Netanyahu expected to tell Trump
Jason Burke
Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to tell Donald Trump on Monday that Hamas must return the remains of the last Israeli hostage left in Gaza before the next stages of the stalled ceasefire can be implemented, Israeli officials and analysts say.
The trip comes amid a new push by officials in Washington to force concessions from Israel to allow progress towards a second stage of the ceasefire in Gaza, which began in October after two years of devastating war.
The family of the last person whose remains have not been returned, Ran Gvili, has joined the Israeli prime minister’s visiting entourage and will meet officials in Washington later this week.
Hamas has freed 20 living hostages and returned the bodies of 27 dead hostages since October and some observers see the insistence on Gvili’s remains as a delaying tactic to allow Israel’s military forces to remain in the 53% of Gaza they currently control.
Daniel Levy, a UK-based analyst and former Israeli peace negotiator, said Netanyahu had no intention of withdrawing further from Gaza or allowing any international force that would deter Israeli military action.
He feels he has a number of cards to play yet and the remains of Gvili is the easiest one to play now but there are others.
Netanyahu is also expected to tell Trump that Israeli is prepared to restart the war in Gaza to force Hamas to surrender its weapons as required under the ceasefire agreement.
Amit Segal, a prominent journalist who is close to Netanyahu, wrote on Monday:
Netanyahu knows exactly what he wants for Christmas – more of the same. Israeli troops stay in 51% of Gaza, periodically striking Hamas … without the shadow of withdrawal looming over him. None of this requires a denunciation of the [Trump] plan itself and Trump can very easily justify Israel’s extended stay on Hamas’s unwillingness to disarm.
Hamas retains large quantities of small arms but only a fraction of the heavy weapons that enabled its surprise attack into southern Israel in 2023, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 abducted.
Read Jason’s full report here:
Further to that, the Kremlin has said that Putin informed Trump about the supposed drone attack on Putin’s residence in their phone call today, and would review its position in peace negotiations as a result.
Per my last post, Ukraine has already labelled the supposed attack as “fake” and a “lie”, with Zelenskyy saying Russia has come out with this story to undermine the US-Ukrainian work on a deal to end the war.
In today’s call, Putin told Trump that he still wants to work with the US on a peace deal but the attack had forced a revision of their position, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said.
Putin was also briefed by Trump and his senior advisers about the negotiations with Ukraine.
Ukraine’s foreign minister has urged world leaders to condemn Russian “manipulations”, saying Moscow was seeking “false justification” for further strikes on its neighbour. He also issued a reminder that “Russia is the aggressor” in this war and Ukraine is defending itself.
Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X:
Russian manipulations regarding the alleged “attempt to attack Putin’s residence” are fabricated for only one reason: to create a pretext and false justification for Russia’s further attacks against Ukraine, as well as to undermine and impede the peace process.
Usual Russian tactic: accuse the other side of what you are doing or planning yourself.
First, Russia has already struck the Ukrainian government building this year.
Second, Ukraine only strikes legitimate military targets in the Russian territory—in response to Russian strikes at Ukraine.
Third, Russia is the aggressor, and Ukraine is the country that has been attacked and defends itself according to article 51 of the UN Charter. There can be no false equivalence between the aggressor and the country defending itself.
We urge the world to condemn provocative Russian statements aimed at derailing the constructive peace process. Ukraine remains committed to peace efforts led by the United States, with the participation of European partners
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said that he had discussed the matter with German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Trump had ‘positive call’ with Putin, White House says
In other news, Donald Trump has concluded a “positive call” with Vladimir Putin concerning the war in Ukraine, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said. We’ll bring you more details on that as we get them.
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed a Russian accusation that Ukraine tried to attack Putin’s residence as a lie, adding that Moscow was preparing the ground to strike government buildings in Kyiv.
The Kremlin earlier said its negotiating position would change following the attack. Zelenskyy has urged the US to react to Russian threats accordingly and has cast the Russian claim as a way of undermining progress in peace talks following his meeting with Trump yesterday.
My colleague Frances Mao is covering the latest on Russia’s war in Ukraine over on our dedicated live blog:
‘Everything is connected to him staying in power’: Close relationship with Trump would boost election-facing Netanyahu
Jason Burke
For Benjamin Netanyahu, a priority will be convincing Donald Trump to allow Israel to act to prevent Iran from repairing the damage inflicted on its nuclear programme in its short war with Israel and the US this summer, or building its ballistic missile capabilities.
Netanyahu faces an election within 10 months, and the looming polls will influence his agenda, analysts say.
“Everything is connected to [his] staying in power,” said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at London-based thinktank Chatham House.
Polls show Netanyahu’s current coalition would struggle to form a government if elections were held now, with many voters angry over the failures that led to the Hamas raid of 2023, moves to continue the exemption of most ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from compulsory military service in Israel and a series of scandals, among other issues.
A close relationship with Trump would reinforce Netanyahu’s appeal among undecided voters and his base, and this suggests any public disagreement between the two leaders is extremely unlikely, analysts said.
Get the full story here:
A reminder of the current winter in Gaza where most housing and infrastructure have been badly damaged or razed, and where in recent weeks heavy rain and cold temperatures have compounded the suffering.
More than 70,000 Palestinian people, mostly civilians, were killed in Gaza during Israel’s military assault on the territory, and almost all of its 2.3m population was displaced.
About 400 Palestinian people have died in Gaza since the October ceasefire, and huge numbers continue to live in conditions of acute hardship.
Leaders to meet amid reported frustration among Trump officials with Israeli PM’s ‘stalling’ peace process
Jason Burke
Under the next stages of Trump’s plan, an interim authority made up of nonaligned Palestinian technocrats is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas and an international stabilisation force (ISF) of thousands of troops is to be deployed.
US officials have suggested the composition of the new authority could be announced in January.
On Friday, the US news outlet Axios reported senior Trump officials were growing frustrated “as Netanyahu has taken steps to undermine the fragile ceasefire and stall the peace process”.
Analysts in Israel and overseas agree.
“There are more and more signs that the American administration is getting frustrated with Netanyahu,” said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at London-based thinktank Chatham House.
“The question is what it’s going to do about it, because phase 2 is right now going nowhere,” Mekelberg added.
Read Jason’s full report here:
What is the tricky second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal?
The first phase of the truce deal required that Hamas release the remaining hostages, both dead and alive, taken during its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The group has so far returned all the living captives and the remains of all but one.
Under the second stage, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, while Hamas is supposed to lay down its weapons. But disarming is a major sticking point for the Islamist movement.
An interim authority is meanwhile meant to govern the Palestinian territory, and an international stabilisation force (ISF) is to be deployed.
But the deal is still tenuous. Both sides have alleged frequent ceasefire violations.
Israel is continuing to strike Hamas targets in Gaza, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon – despite there being a ceasefire there too.
Further to our earlier post, Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said Netanyahu would discuss the second phase of Gaza deal, as well as bring up the “danger Iran poses not only to the region of the Middle East, but the United States as well”.
In recent months, Israeli officials and media have voiced concerns that Iran is rebuilding its ballistic missile arsenal after it came under attack during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
But Sina Toossi, a researcher at the Center for International Policy (CIP) in Washington, told AFP Trump’s insistence that US strikes in June destroyed Tehran’s nuclear program had “removed Israel’s most powerful historical justification for US support for war with Iran”.
Netanyahu’s new focus on Iran’s missiles is “an effort to manufacture a replacement casus belli”, Toossi says.
The Gaza ceasefire in October is one of the major achievements of Trump’s first year back in power, but his administration and regional mediators want to keep up the momentum.
There are reports that Trump would be keen to announce – even as early as January – a Palestinian technocratic government for Gaza, and the deployment of an international stabilisation force.
Axios reported on Friday that Trump wanted to convene the first meeting of a new Gaza “Board of Peace” that he would chair, at the Davos forum in Switzerland in January.
Trump’s global envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner hosted senior officials from mediators Qatar, Egypt and Turkey in Miami earlier this month.
Donald Trump to meet Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago
Good morning and welcome to our US politics blog where the focus is squarely on international conflicts today.
Just a day after hosting Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump will host Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago at 1pm ET.
It is the fifth meeting between the two leaders in the US this year and comes amid concerns over progress on Trump’s fragile Gaza truce plan.
Netanyahu and Trump will meet in Florida amid growing fears Israel could launch new offensives against regional enemies, potentially plunging the Middle East further into instability.
The Israeli prime minister left Israel on Sunday on his fifth visit to see Trump in the US this year.
High on the agenda will be the ceasefire in Gaza, which in October halted Israel’s devastating two-year-long military assault. Though the terms agreed for an initial phase have been largely completed, with Israel’s forces pulling back to new positions and Hamas releasing all living and all but one of the dead hostages, immense challenges face the implementation of the second phase of the president’s 20-point plan.
There are also fears Israel will launch new offensives against Hezbollah in Lebanon, breaking a ceasefire established more than a year ago, or against Iran, which it accuses of accelerating the manufacture of ballistic missiles in recent months.
There are fears in the White House that both Israel and Hamas are dragging their feet on the second phase of the ceasefire. But Trump says Netanyahu has asked for these talks, perhaps to put pressure on shifting focus to Iran. He may call for more US strikes on the Islamic republic.
We’ll have more over the coming hours.
