Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travels to the United States on Sunday morning to be the first foreign leader to meet with President Donald Trump after the latter’s inauguration.
The Israeli prime minister’s office previously reported that a meeting between Trump and Netanyahu at the White House was scheduled for February 4.
Netanyahu and Trump intend to discuss the current situation in the Gaza Strip, the issue of Israeli hostages, the confrontation with all elements of the Iranian “axis of evil” and other key issues during the upcoming “historic” meeting.
Before the Israeli prime minister’s departure to the United States, it became known that Netanyahu had agreed with the US Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff to begin negotiations on the second stage of the deal with the Palestinian movement Hamas on a ceasefire in Gaza at their meeting in Washington next Monday. Thus, negotiations on the second stage of the agreement will begin on the 16th day of the implementation of the first stage of the deal, within the framework of which Israel managed to return 18 hostages from the Palestinian enclave in 2 weeks.
The negotiations will take place against the backdrop of Trump’s recent decision to lift the US ban on the deliveries of heavy 2,000-pound bombs to Israel.
UNI
